Cinema The secret of Denmark’s success

[xchrom]

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/1421171-secret-denmark-s-success

?1327071764
Still from "Karla og Jonas", by Charlotte Sachs Bostrup.
Jens Juncker-Jensen

At a time when the drive for austerity has led most countries to cut back on cultural budgets, the Danish film industry remains one of the most successful in Europe thanks to a pro-active policy of grants and support for young film makers.

While the debate over funding for the arts remains ongoing here in Portugal, a bit further north, Denmark, a country that is about half as big and half as populous as ours, has become a major centre for the film industry.

How did it accomplish this feat? By focusing efforts on children and the younger generation. Why spend tax-payers money to fund films? Can they not "take care" of their own funding? Henrik Bo Nielson, the director Det Dansk Filminstitut (the Danish Film Institute), explains that politicitians already provided convincing long-term answers to these questions in the early 1970s.

In Denmark, these were important questions, but the debate has now been settled. What’s more, the answers took into consideration ambitions for Danish citizens, and notably the country’s children. And these ambitions have continued to grow: a fact reflected in 1980s legislation which stipulated that one quarter of the annual budget on film funding – approximately 70 million euros – should be invested in activities and productions that target children and young people.

[marmar]

1. There are some surprisingly good Danish films that Sundance shows from time to time.....

"Hævnen" being one of them.

[xchrom]

2. +1