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The Danish Film Festival Atlanta 2010 – the fifth Danish Film Festival in Atlanta – drew a big crowd. Who said that recession kept people home?
The films, selected by The High’s media curator, Linda Dubler and myself, were very strong Danish films:
- “Fear Me Not” with Ulrich Thomsen and Paprika Steen
- “Flame and Citron” with Mads Mikkelsen and Thure Lindhardt
- “Take the Trash” – again featuring Thure Lindhardt (in a completely different role) and Sidse Babbett Knudsen
- “Terribly Happy” with Jakob Cedergren and Lene Maria Christensen
The last one was Oscar nominated (and the film with highest attendance) .
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I’m not sure if you have noticed, but we are promoting Denmark as a tourist destination now – and it obviously works.
I was shopping at a Williams-Sonoma store early February, and the lady who rang me up noticed my name and asked if I was Danish. She was of Danish descent, but had never visited Denmark – but they had attended the Danish Film Festival and had decided to change their vacation plans this summer: They are going to Denmark!
It was the first film festival without a VIP dinner – and a VIP, which concerned us a bit, but everything turned out well. We had hoped to get a visit from Mads Mikkelsen, since he held a major role in “Flame and Citron”, but he was unable to attend.
It is our intention, though, to work very hard at bringing an actor or a director from one of the movies for the Danish Film Festival 2011. It sure is nice with a little “star-dust”.
It was also the first film festival without the children’s movie, and I really missed that. From previous years’ experience we have learned that subtitles just don’t go over well with the younger audience, and we were not able to find a Danish children’s movie that was dubbed into English. We are already searching for one for next year.
Putting on a festival of this size is quite a feat – but I was fortunate to have an outstanding team behind me. Peter Hansen and Heidi Hansen took on the big task of sponsorship. Raising money for an event like this isn’t easy when business isn’t doing so well.
Anne Sornpao did an outstanding job in promoting the film festival – we were featured in lots of publications and have never been more visible on the internet. Sonia Patel Saur worked very hard on our programs, posters, and mailers – and she created a new logo for us.
Katrina Hagensen handled our website and was my “go-to” for all those “little” things that have to get done.
We are keeping a close eye on the Danish film scene, and we see a lot of exciting films that we would like to bring to Atlanta for the Danish Film Festival Atlanta 2011. And we are very excited – several volunteers have signed up to help out next year. So be on the look-out for more info.
Gitte Hagensen |
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