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Culture culture
The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk
24 - 30 August 2012
Oscar-snubbed: now they know how Orson Welles felt Who is ...
Netflix can expect competition Lydia Deichmann The popular internet media provider will be here “when the dark months come”, a company spokesperson says
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here’s good news for the nation’s TV fans. Not only is Netflix coming to Denmark, but the news of the popular streaming service’s arrival has caused additional changes to the Danish TV market. Although it has not yet been announced when it will be released, the communications manager at Netflix, Joris Evers, confirmed that the service will hit Denmark before the end of 2012. “When the dark months come to Denmark, then it will be possible to see Netflix,” he told DR News. Similar to the online streaming provider Spotify, which provides music for a small monthly fee, Netflix streams TV series and movies that can be watched on demand. A monthly subscription in America costs about 60kr, but it is not certain how much it will cost to access Netflix in Denmark. Netflix has streamed to millions of members in the USA since 2007, and is the world’s leading subscription-based in-
ternet service for TV series and movies, with 27 million customers worldwide. It was launched in Canada in 2010, Latin America at 2011, and Britain and Ireland at the beginning of this year. When it comes to Denmark, it will also be available in Sweden, Norway and Finland. But Netflix can expect some potential competition from other media providers. DVD rental service Blockbuster has responded with its own changes, offering customers a subscription that they can use to access all the store movie titles for a fixed price. However Søren Heilmann, the managing director of Blockbuster Denmark, acknowledged that his company will be facing stiff competition from Netflix. “We expect that more will choose digital rentals. We saw a decline in physical rentals for the first time last year, and expect that it will continue,” Heilmann said. “The physical product that we offer is currently audibly and visually superior to that offered digitally. It will of course change with time, but right now the physical market for rental is still by far the largest,” Heilmann added. Yet even more competition is looming in the media market, as the domestic multimedia provider YouSee also plans to launch an online streaming service in the autumn.
linn lemhag
Orson Welles at the podium in Citizen Kane, but nobody’s presenting him an Oscar
ten’, meanwhile, has been overlooked despite winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as well as the best actor award for Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark’s most internationally recognisable actor, which would appear to suggest ‘international potential’. However, while it is scheduled to be released in eight countries this year, it won’t be released in Denmark until Janu-
ary, and like ‘Hvidsten Gruppen’, there is no current plan to release it in the US this year, although this is not part of the eligibility criteria as it is with other Oscar categories. Cousin Cannes and Uncle Oscar are rare bedfellows, and perhaps the subject matter of ‘Jagten’, child sex abuse allegation and mob mentality, was too hot for the committee to handle, who instead opted for films about a court romance, a
holiday romance and a romance between two artists. Nielsen is confident the committee has chosen three directors who have already proven themselves on the international film scene. Among them is August, an Oscar winner with Pelle the Conqueror’ in 1988, who has not made a Danishlanguage film since then. The committee will name the Danish candidate for the Oscar race on 18 September.
Lollipop and cool stories Francisco Perez
Evening in the Secret Garden HHHHHH
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ood storytelling is the crux of all theatrical performances. This is a lesson that the newly-formed Moonhound Theatre group integrated well, as their Friday August 17 performance ‘Evening in the Secret Garden’ clearly showed. The troupe, made up of four students from the Commedia School, welcomed their audience into a house garden in Østerbro. The decor was basic but cosy: mattresses, sheets, carpets and garden were spread across the grass. As the members of the audience came through the front door, they were led across the garden by a small path marked by lollipops, granting the scene a look similar to that of the unbirthday party scene in ‘Alice in Wonderland’, thus explaining the name of the performance. There, the troupe unveiled four short stories. Each of the four narrators told a separate one, bringing to it a personal touch and specific talents. The stories were diverse and entertaining, highlighting the troupe’s excellent writing. From a children’s tale – as was their first story, recalling the sad
Kirsten Eddyson
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he best films don’t always win the top awards. Just ask Orson Welles. In 1941, ‘Citizen Kane’ got beaten to best film at the Oscars by ‘How Green was my Valley’, a movie currently residing in TCM’s ‘where are they now’ section. And ‘Vertigo’, another perennial nominee on top ten of all time lists, didn’t win either. It didn’t even get nominated. Sadly Welles and Alfred Hitchcock aren’t around anymore, or otherwise Thomas Vinterberg and Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis, the directors of ‘Jagten’ (‘The Hunt’) and ‘Hvidsten Gruppen’ (‘The Village: One family’s sacrifice will let a country live’) respectively, would have requisitioned their shoulders to cry on following the news that neither of their highly-acclaimed films will be battling it out at the Oscars next February. Instead, the three films on the shortlist for Denmark’s entry in the best foreign language film category, which are chosen by a committee handpicked by the Danish Film Institute, are
Ida Corr?
RecArt
Two of the country’s most acclaimed films of 2012 have been left out of the running for the Oscar nomination
Nikolaj Arcel’s ‘En kongelig affære’ (‘A Royal Affair’), Susanne Bier’s ‘Love Is All You Need’ (‘Den skaldede frisør’) and Bille August’s ‘Marie Krøyer’. Henrik Bo Nielsen, the committee chairman and CEO of the Danish Film Institute, explained in a press release that despite there being many qualified candidates, the committee chose the films that they best believed had “great international potential”. Supporters of ‘Hvidsten Gruppen’ will question whether international potential and domestic box office success are linked, given that the film has so far been seen by significantly more people in Denmark (764,041 vs 526,262) than ‘En kongelig affære’, despite the latter’s inclusion on the Biografklub Danmark list. Nevertheless, ‘En kongelig affære’ has already been released in seven other countries (Germany, Estonia, Sweden, Ireland, the UK, Australia and New Zealand), with further release dates slated in another eight: the Netherlands (August 23), Norway (Sep 14), Belgium (Sep 19), Poland (Sep 21), the US ( November 9), France (Nov 21) and Argentina (December 13). In contrast, ‘Hvidsten Gruppen’ has only been released in the Czech Republic. Thomas Vinterberg’s Jag-
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Jessica O’Sullivan
She is a Danish-Gambian singer who took her first major bow as an 11-year old on the first ever children’s Melodi Grand Prix. And on Monday it was confirmed she will be one of the judges on the next season of ‘X Factor’. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before. No, you probably haven’t, but you’ve probably heard her voice. Her ‘Let Me Think About It’ collaboration with Fedde Le Grand was played nonstop through practically every speaker on the planet during the summer of 2007. Oh, that was her? What has she done since then? Not much. Her last album was in 2009, though she’s released a steady stream of singles since then – the last of which was called ‘Naughty Girl’ and is in Danish. Is it any good? In a word: no, she’s like a female Nik & Jay. And so far it’s not getting very much playtime but now she’s the new X Factor judge – watch this space. I heard she has a famous boyfriend … She has a boyfriend who plays football for Danish First Division club AB.
The Moonhound team (left-right), David Roby, Kaye and Sam Saylor and Fabiola Gonzalez, mugging it for the camera
destiny of a town punished for chasing mythical animals away – to the sadder monologue of a talking piano (their third piece, based on the story of Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman), all tastes were met and all faces rejoiced. No less impressive was the group’s acting. Hilarious gimmicks, impressive physical performances, acrobatics and entertaining accents were the trademark of the multicultural group. British siblings Kaye and Sam Saylor hypnotised the crowd with their lively Yorkshire accents. Sam, giving a solo performance, charmed guests with his warm around the fire-like
storytelling. Kaye kept the audience sharp, energetically bringing the stories to life. Fabiola Gonzalez from Mexico convinced the audience with her whimsical gimmicks, while enacting a fussy goddess with whom a mortal had fallen in love with. American born David Roby gave the most applauded display: his powerful voice and á la Chaplin body language pleased a laughing crowd. Regardless of the odd location – and of the neighbour’s loud music – the foursome pulled off an unexpectedly good show, which they hope will be the basis for future performances.
So he’s not exactly famous then, is he? If you manage to find a channel that shows their games, he’s the goalie with the beard who looks like he’d be more at home on the pages of National Geographic under the headline: ‘Yeti found in Gladsaxe’. Do we have any idea of what she’s going to be like in the judge’s chair? She claims she will be kind and mellow. We’re hoping she’ll take some inspiration from her latest single and bring some naughtiness to the table and maybe pick a fight with Thomas Blachman. Let’s face it, anyone would have been an improvement on Pernille Rosendahl.