02/05/2007

Henrik Bo Nielsen, chief executive of renowned Danish newspaper Information, has just been appointed CEO of the Danish Film Institute (DFI) by the institute’s board members. He will take on his new position as of August 1.

Current CEO Henning Camre, who has been instrumental in raising the profile of Danish films domestically and internationally during his nine years at the head of the DFI, will leave the institute on July 1.

Just like Cissi Elwin, a former television journalist recruited last year to manage the Swedish Film Institute, Nielsen has no experience in the film business but was chosen because of his “effectiveness [and] wide experience in managing creative environments and developing new business areas in a highly competitive media market”.

“It wasn’t essential to find a new Chief Executive outside the industry, but in this case I think it’s a big plus,” said Morten Hesseldahl, chairman of the DFI. “Coming from a creative, turbulent, hard-pressed newspaper industry, and considering his strategic overview, Henrik Bo Nielsen will give the film industry and the Film Institute new visions and new vitality”.

Another key job at the DFI was filled with the recruitment of anthropologist and established documentary producer Jakob Høgel, who will be the new Artistic Director for New Danish Screen. He replaces Vince Wiedemann, whose contract ends next September.

Høgel previously worked at the DFI as Film Consultant from 1999-2004, before joining Cosmo Doc, the company behind successful documentaries such as Prostitution Behind the Veil and Smiling in a War Zone.

Camre said that by hiring Høgel the institute has secured its ability to continue on the same ambitious level set under Wiedemann’s aegis: “Høgel has both a strong international sense and a thorough knowledge of all things related to new trends in the Danish scene. I also see him as a bridge between fiction and documentaries and mixed-visual forms that can show the new way forward for Danish cinema”.