24/03/2003

Tim and Tivi Magnusson's Danish production outfit M & M Productions won their second Oscar last night for the short live action film Der er en yndig mand (This Charming Man). This tale of a man called Lars Hansen who switches identity with a man called El Hassan in the hope of winning the heart of his childhood sweetheart, was directed by Martin Strange-Hansen and produced by Mia Andreasen for M&M. The 31-minute film, the last to be supported by the Danish Film Institute’s now-defunct Short Fiction Film Fund, won the Audience Award at last month’s the French Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. This is director Strange-Hansen’s second 'victorious' trip to the Hollywood Oscars after the short film he made on graduating from the Danish National Film School, Feeding Desire, won an Honorary Foreign Film Student Award in 2001. This is the second Oscar victory for M&M Production, nominated four times in the short film category, their earlier victory being in 1999 with Anders Thomas Jensen's Election Nightin the Best Short Fiction category.