26/11/2013 - The Danish Film Academy will for the first time leave the nomination decision for the annual film prizes to its 1,400 members

30 years ago, when the Danish Film Academy – an association of film and TV professionals – introduced its annual film awards, the trophy for Best Danish Feature 1983 was shared between Danish directors Nils Malmros’ Beauty and the Beast and Søren Kragh-Jacobsen's  Kingfisher.

This year Malmros and Kragh-Jacobsen will also be competing for nominations – with Sorrow and Joy [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], respectively – but for the first time the nominees for the prizes, which will be presented on January 26, 2014, will be chosen by the Academy’s more than 1,400 members from all areas of film and television production, distribution and exhibition.

"The members have always had the final say as to who should win, but we have also wanted to leave the nomination process with those who work in Danish cinema – who else could be better at judging the efforts of others,” explained the Academy’s president, Danish producer Kim Magnusson, of M&M Productions.

“In recent years we have signed a large number of new members, and now we have achieved the critical mass, which gives us the broadest possible base for a fair and impartial nomination procedure,” he concluded. The Robert prize is named after its creator, Danish sculptor Robert Jacobsen.

The other – senior – Danish film award and one of the oldest in Europe, the Bodil, which is designed by Ebbe Sadolin, honouring two Danish actresses, Bodil Ipsen and Bodil Kjer, has been presented by the Danish Film Critics’ Association since 1948. The 2013 awards ceremony will take place on February 1, 2014, where Danish actor Jesper Langberg will receive this year’s Honorary Bodil Prize.