In the summer of 1969, Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise visual pornography.... more In the summer of 1969, Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise visual pornography. This chapter outlines the history of film censorship in Denmark, examining how socio-cultural change led to gradual testing of legal limits. The immediate impact of the lifting of censorship was a short-lived ‘porn monopoly’, gaining the country an international reputation as uniquely licentious. The chapter addresses how mainstream Danish feature films of the late 1960s and early 1970s incorporated and commercialised the transgressive potential of sex and pornography in three main ways: in porn films proper, in documentary-like films, and in the highly popular national sex comedies.
One of the earliest films shot in Denmark purports to show Greenland: Peter Elfelt’s Kørsel med g... more One of the earliest films shot in Denmark purports to show Greenland: Peter Elfelt’s Kørsel med grønlandske Hunde (Driving with Greenlandic Dogs, 1897). The first Danish sound film and the first Danish colour feature also took Greenland’s breathtaking geography as their subjects. This chapter outlines the historical and colonial relations between Denmark and Greenland, and provides an overview of the history of Greenland on screen, with reference to the growing field of Critical Arctic Studies. The chapter concludes with an extended interview with producer Emile Hertling Péronard, one of the founders of the Greenlandic film industry association, FILM.GL., and producer of Sumé (dir. Inuk Silis Høegh, 2014), the first film made by Greenlanders about the history of Greenland. As a co-owner, with Høegh, of Ánorâk Film, Péronard provides a snapshot of the state of play in this emerging film industry and the possibilities afforded by international collaborations for indigenous film cultures.
The short subject is devoted to two letters from Carl Th. Dreyer to the management of the film co... more The short subject is devoted to two letters from Carl Th. Dreyer to the management of the film company Nordisk Films Kompagni, written in 1919 just before Dreyer commenced the production of Blade af Satans Bog (Leaves from Satan’s Book). The letters offer an insight into the conflict between Dreyer’s artistic ambitions and financial realities.
On the first floor in The Danish Film Institute (DFI) stand two rows of closed steel cupboards. F... more On the first floor in The Danish Film Institute (DFI) stand two rows of closed steel cupboards. From the look of the cupboards, one would never imagine that they contain a unique treasure on national and international silent cinema – The Nordisk Film Collection. In the silent era, Nordisk Films Kompagni belonged to the big players on the international market, and the majority of the collection is the survived business archive of the company before the advent of sound. Originally the collection, donated to the Danish Film Museum in 1975, also included stills (Figure 1) and poster (Figure 2), and souvenir programmes, but those are now mainly included in DFI’s Stills and Poster Archive. The scope and variety of the collection remains impressive; among the nearly 10,000 numbered items are:
In the summer of 1969, Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise visual pornography.... more In the summer of 1969, Denmark was the first country in the world to legalise visual pornography. This chapter outlines the history of film censorship in Denmark, examining how socio-cultural change led to gradual testing of legal limits. The immediate impact of the lifting of censorship was a short-lived ‘porn monopoly’, gaining the country an international reputation as uniquely licentious. The chapter addresses how mainstream Danish feature films of the late 1960s and early 1970s incorporated and commercialised the transgressive potential of sex and pornography in three main ways: in porn films proper, in documentary-like films, and in the highly popular national sex comedies.
One of the earliest films shot in Denmark purports to show Greenland: Peter Elfelt’s Kørsel med g... more One of the earliest films shot in Denmark purports to show Greenland: Peter Elfelt’s Kørsel med grønlandske Hunde (Driving with Greenlandic Dogs, 1897). The first Danish sound film and the first Danish colour feature also took Greenland’s breathtaking geography as their subjects. This chapter outlines the historical and colonial relations between Denmark and Greenland, and provides an overview of the history of Greenland on screen, with reference to the growing field of Critical Arctic Studies. The chapter concludes with an extended interview with producer Emile Hertling Péronard, one of the founders of the Greenlandic film industry association, FILM.GL., and producer of Sumé (dir. Inuk Silis Høegh, 2014), the first film made by Greenlanders about the history of Greenland. As a co-owner, with Høegh, of Ánorâk Film, Péronard provides a snapshot of the state of play in this emerging film industry and the possibilities afforded by international collaborations for indigenous film cultures.
The short subject is devoted to two letters from Carl Th. Dreyer to the management of the film co... more The short subject is devoted to two letters from Carl Th. Dreyer to the management of the film company Nordisk Films Kompagni, written in 1919 just before Dreyer commenced the production of Blade af Satans Bog (Leaves from Satan’s Book). The letters offer an insight into the conflict between Dreyer’s artistic ambitions and financial realities.
On the first floor in The Danish Film Institute (DFI) stand two rows of closed steel cupboards. F... more On the first floor in The Danish Film Institute (DFI) stand two rows of closed steel cupboards. From the look of the cupboards, one would never imagine that they contain a unique treasure on national and international silent cinema – The Nordisk Film Collection. In the silent era, Nordisk Films Kompagni belonged to the big players on the international market, and the majority of the collection is the survived business archive of the company before the advent of sound. Originally the collection, donated to the Danish Film Museum in 1975, also included stills (Figure 1) and poster (Figure 2), and souvenir programmes, but those are now mainly included in DFI’s Stills and Poster Archive. The scope and variety of the collection remains impressive; among the nearly 10,000 numbered items are:
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