24/01/2007

It was while watching television in the US, where she is working on the post-production of her first Hollywood film, Things We Lost in the Fire, that Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier heard of After the Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sisse Graum Jørgensen
interview: Susanne Bier
film profile]’s ( see focus) Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

One of the top local films of 2006 in Denmark, with over 400,000 admissions, After the Wedding was co-scripted by Anders Thomas Jensen, himself a winner of an Oscar for his short film Election Night (1998). Both had already collaborated on Bier’s previous, successful movies, Open Hearts [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2002) and Brothers [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2004).

The €3m drama starring Mads Mikkelsen and Rolf Lassgård was produced by Sisse Graum Jorgensen for Zentropa Productions, in co-production with the UK’s Sigma Film, co-financing from broadcasters DR in Denmark and SVT in Sweden and support from the Danish Film Institute and the Nordisk Film & TV Fund .

The film was released in Italy last December through Teodora Film and will open in France (Equation) on March 7 and the UK (Soda Pictures) on March 9. Commenting on the film’s Academy Awards nomination, Edward Fletcher, managing director of Soda Pictures, said: “Soda Pictures have long been a supporter of Danish cinema and we are delighted that After the Wedding has been recognised for such a prestigious award. Susanne Bier is a huge talent and we are very proud to be associated with After the Wedding, as well as her previous film, Brothers. “

Denmark has won the Best Foreign Language Oscar twice before: in 1987 for Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast and in 1988 for Bille August’s Pelle the Conqueror.

The 79th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 25 in the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles.