19/04/2005

Denmark is well-represented this year at the Cannes Film festival (11-22 May) with Lars von Trier’s Manderlay [+see also:
trailer
film profile], competing for the prestigious Palme d’or, and Dagur Kári’s Dark Horse (Voksne Mennesker - Dogme) selected at Un Certain Regard, two films sold internationally by Zentropa's sales arm Trust Film Sales.
Lars von Trier’s Manderlay is the director’s seventh feature film to be selected in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is the second part of Trier’s USA trilogy following Dogville [+see also:
trailer
film profile], shown in competition in Cannes 2003. Manderlay is the name of a plantation in Alabama which Grace and her father came upon after leaving Dogville. There, they witness the horrors and injustice of slavery, which compels Grace to intervene.
The all-star cast includes US actress Bryce Dallas Howard (who replaces Nicole Kidman), Isaak de Bankole, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier, Rik Launspach and Rubens Brinkman.
The Dkr 86.7M film is a Danish/French/Swedish/German/Dutch/UK co-production produced by Zentropa 13ApS. Among the European distributors that have bought the rights to the film are Golem Distribución (Spain), Gutek Film (Poland), Artcam (Czech republic), Budapest Film (Hungary), Cineart (Benelux), Monopole Pathe (Switzerland), Audiovisual Entertainment (Greece), and Independenta (Romania). The film will be released in Denmark on 3 June 2005.

Dark Horse is the first feature film in Danish by Iceland director Dagur Kári whose directorial debut Noi Albinoi (2003) won 18 international awards. The director who graduated from the National Film School of Denmark, has written with Rune Schjøtt a comedy drama about an irresponsible graffiti artist who lives in Copenhagen and earns his living painting declarations of love, on demand, on the walls of the city. The film stars Jakob Cedergren, Nicolas Bro and Nicolaj Kopernikus. The film will be released in Denmark on 13 May.

Another Danish short film Exit directed by Robert Depuis is screening at Cannes’ Cinefondation, the competition programme for students from film schools. The 7 minutes film is a thriller mixing animation and Live-action, produced by Nikolaj Tarp.