Danish films about hope

Poor Ivan Olsen is plagued by problems bullied at school and constantly pursued by a gang whose greatest pleasure is filling his pants with water. And when Ivan gets home, his dad doesn't have much sympathy for him either because he is crazy about Tarzan and fails to appreciate Ivan's finer qualities. But one day Ivan gets the chance to live up all of his dad's expectations and give the bullies at school a lesson they will never forget. The big question is whether having superpowers makes life any easier?

The 1992 Danish football team competes for the European Championship.

Erik, a lecturer in architecture, inherits his father’s large old house in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen. His wife Anna, a well-known television newscaster, suggests that they invite their friends to come and live with them. In this way she hopes to evade the boredom that has begun to seep into their marriage. Before long, a dozen women, men and children move into the country house, make collective decisions, engage in discussions and go swimming together in the nearby Øresund strait. They also rub each other up the wrong way on account of their smaller and larger idiosyncrasies. Their fragile equilibrium threatens to come undone when Erik falls in love with his student Emma and the young woman moves into the house. Fourteen-year-old Freja, daughter of Erik and Anna, aloofly observes these goings-on and seeks her own way.

Jesper Jensen is a successful IT salesman who stops at nothing, even if it means backstabbing his best friend. Being number one in the company and having a beautiful wife and a lovely home, Jesper seems to lead a perfect life, but one day his arrogance and self confidence hits him in the face like a boomerang and he loses everything overnight. Jesper is sentenced to do community service at a recycling center with the odd and funny characters Dion, Theodor, and Lotte. At first he looks down on these people and doesn't want to be associated with them. When he begins to loosen up, however, he discovers that he can learn a lot from their straight forward and honest approach to life.

On his quest for happiness, Per decides to leave Jutland and an upbringing in a strict religious home. He runs from his family and his patriarch father, and sets sail towards Copenhagen to become an engineer. Parallel to his studies, he works on a visionary energy project based on wind and wave energy, a project so much ahead of its time, that professors consider him insane and far too self-confident. However, Per’s project becomes a success and he marries the beautiful Jakobe who is a part of a wealthy Jewish family. One would imagine that Per’s happiness now is made. But Per’s childhood keeps haunting him and his dogmatic family cannot accept his new life. Despite his luck and success, Per is unable to fully cut the strings to his strict religious background, and he now fears that he will repeat his father’s patriarchist behavior.

One day in the life of Anders, a young recovering drug addict, who takes a brief leave from his treatment center to interview for a job and catch up with old friends in Oslo.

With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, The Queen of Versailles follows billionaires Jackie and David’s rags-to-riches story to uncover the innate virtues and flaws of their American dream. We open on the triumphant construction of the biggest house in America, a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles. Since a booming time-share business built on the real-estate bubble is financing it, the economic crisis brings progress to a halt and seals the fate of its owners. We witness the impact of this turn of fortune over the next two years in a riveting film fraught with delusion, denial, and self-effacing humor.

Christian is a Copenhagen wine seller on the brink of bankruptcy. Equally unsuccessful in just about every other aspect of life, it has been 17months since his wife Anna left him. Anna works as a soccer agent in Buenos Aires and now lives a life of luxury with Argentina's top player Juan Diaz. Then one day Christian and their 16-year-old son Oscar get on a plane to Buenos Aires. Christian arrives under the pretense of wanting to sign the divorce papers, but in truth, he wants to try to win Anna back.

Hannes is an old man who has grown apart from his children. Recently retired when his wife gets ill he tries to reconcile with them and to atone for his cold demeanor in the past.

In 1890, Pontus, the starving writer, wanders the streets of Christiania, in search of love and a chance to get his work published. All he meets is defeat and suffering while his sense of reality is withering. One moment he is delighted and the next he curses everybody. All the time he manages to maintain human dignity and pride.

Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.

The movie is a sequel to Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage (1973), where we revisit the characters of Johan and Marianne, then a married couple. After their divorce, Johan and Marianne haven't seen each other for 32 years. Marianne is still working, as a divorce lawyer. Johan is quite well off and has retired to a house in the Orsa finnmark district of Sweden. On a whim, Marianne decides to visit him. Johan's son from a previous marriage, Henrik, lives nearby in a cottage with his daughter Karin, a gifted cello player. The relationship between father and son is strained. Plot by Mattias Thuresson.

The prestigious Danish filmmaker Bille August, winner of an Academy Award and two Palme d'Or in Cannes, returns with a highly personal drama. Three generations of a family gather over a weekend. The sisters Sanne and Heidi have accepted their terminally-ill mother’s desire to die before her disease worsens; but, as the weekend progresses, their mother's decision becomes harder and harder to deal with, and old conflicts come to the surface.

When Astrid Lindgren was very young something happened that affected her profoundly, and this combination of both miracle and calamity came to shape her entire life. It was an event that transformed her into one of the most inspiring women of our age and the storyteller a whole world would come to love. This is the story of when a young Astrid, despite the expectations of her time and religious upbringing, decided to break free from society's norms and follow her heart.

The true story of the Fiil's a family of innkeepers who during Nazi-Germany's occupation of Denmark took up arms against the German occupiers. But in the fight for freedom, some must die so that others may live.

Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society.

The true story about legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his epic crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

17-year-old Sara leads a sheltered existence with her family, members of Jehovah’s Witnesses, when she meets the outsider Teis and falls in love. Sara, herself a believer, now faces an important turning point in her life as she is forced to choose between religion and love.

A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.

HELD FOR RANSOM tells the true story of Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye who was held hostage for 398 days in Syria by the terror organization ISIS along with several other foreign nationals including the American journalist, James Foley. The film follows Daniel’s struggle to survive in captivity, his friendship with James, and the nightmare of the Rye family back home in Denmark as they try to do everything in their power to save their son. At the center of this crisis, we find hostage negotiator, Arthur, who plays a pivotal role in securing Daniel’s release.

A family of four is quarantined in their home as a virulent strand of the flu spreads into town and they are forced to the extreme to escape alive.

Based on the first book in Jussi Adler-Olsen's bestselling thriller series about Department Q THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES tells the story of the two policemen Carl Mørck and Assad who become involved in a five-year-old case concerning a missing woman, Merete. Soon Carl and Assad are on a journey through Scandinavia's darkest corners to find a psychopathic killer.

In the early morning of April 9th 1940 the Danish army is alerted. The Germans have crossed the border; Denmark is at war against Europe's strongest army. In Southern Jutland Danish bicycle- and motorcycle companies are ordered out, to against all odds, hold back the forces until the Danish reinforcements can be mobilized. In the fatal hours, we follow second lieutenant Sand and his bicycle company - they will as the first Danish soldiers meet the enemy in combat on April 9th 1940.

Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.

When Gerda Wegener asks her husband Einar to fill in as a portrait model, Einar discovers the person she's meant to be and begins living her life as Lili Elbe. Having realized her true self and with Gerda's love and support, Lili embarks on a groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

12-year-old Pelle accidentally gets bitten by an ant and develops unimaginable superpowers. With help from his friend, comic book nerd Wilhelm, Pelle creates a secret identity as the superhero Antboy. Slowly things start to happen in the surburban community, and when a scary and crazy supervillain, Flea, enters the scene, Antboy must step up to the challenge. The first Danish superhero-movie. Based on the books by Kenneth Bøgh Andersen.

Two competitive friends, fueled by literary aspirations and youthful exuberance, endure the pangs of love, depression and burgeoning careers.

Erika is mentally bruised and starts group therapy with people seeking absolute anonymity.

As children, Nick and his little brother take care of their baby brother while their mother drinks herself senseless. But the baby dies, and both brothers blame themselves. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick meets his brother at the funeral. The brother, who remains nameless, is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again.

In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery. The decision to keep it alters her whole life.

Knut Hamsun is Norway's most famous and admired author. Ever since he was young he has hated the English for the starvation they caused Norway during WWI. When the Germans occupy Norway 9 April 1940 he welcomes them and the protection they can give from Great Britain. He supports the national socialist ideals, but opposes the way these ideals are turned into action - that Norwegians are jailed and executed. His wife Marie travels in Germany during the war as a sign of support from Knut and herself.

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

Danish soldiers are sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for 6 months, to help stabilize the country against the Taliban. They're stationed on Armadillo military base in Helman province. Unlike other war movies, this is the real deal - no actors.

Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.

When Laura and Christine meet Maria, their friendship takes an intense turn to vulnerability, love and sex.

A young man spurs romance and helps his friend and himself go through the struggles of their ordinary life in Denmark.

During the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia, Rapayet and his indigenous family get involved in a war to control the business that ends up destroying their lives and their culture.

A family lives in the Mexican countryside raising fighting bulls. Esther is in charge of running the ranch, while her husband Juan, a world-renowned poet, raises and selects the beasts. Although in an open marriage, their relationship begins to crumble when Esther falls in love with an American horsebreaker and Juan is unable to control his jealousy.

On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.

Sixteen year-old Nisha lives a double life. At home with her family she is the perfect Pakistani daughter, but when out with her friends, she is a normal Norwegian teenager. When her father catches her in bed with her boyfriend, Nisha's two worlds brutally collide. To set an example, Nisha's parents decide to kidnap her and place her with relatives in Pakistan. Here, in a country she has never been to before, Nisha is forced to adapt to her parents' culture.

The film takes place somewhere in the Danish countryside in the middle of the 19th century. Here within a small Danish peasant family, harsh circumstances reign. With the prospect of yet another tough winter, the farmer Jens faces an unbearable choice. If the family is to survive the winter, he must settle an agreement with the rich farmer nearby and forsake his own moral as well as his most precious possession, in an effort to secure them all a better life.

A Danish crew of misfits travel to Saturn in search for natural resources. However, the planet is colonized by a ruthless army of Aliens that turn their eye on Earth and invade Denmark. Thus, the crew change their mission to liberate Denmark.

The film has been ten years in the making, and over time it has grown to become what the director himself has called an artistic testament. It is simultaneously his most personal and most provocative film. A film about growing older, about losing, about the special moments one remembers, and about the director's own circling around the essence of eroticism.

The city needs heroes. Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick to save the city and unravel Shredder's diabolical plan.

Sensitive 12-year-old Alf is the low man on his class' totem pole, and he's sick of it. Forming a secret, Machiavellian alliance with another student who also has grown weary of being bullied, he hatches a plan to throw a wrench into the well-oiled gears of the school social order. Everything seems to go according to plan, until Alf discovers that turning the tables on his tormentors has its own dire consequences.

Opening in the seductive style of the sixties, »A Funny Man« uncovers the perennial loneliness that comedian Dirch Passer (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) has found himself in after a fast-tracked rise to fame. He struggles between his own desire to gain critical respect and servicing the audience¿s needs. Costing his kindred friendship to on-stage partner Kjeld Petersen (Lars Ranthe) Dirch takes on Steinbeck's classic »Of Mice and Men«, only for the audience to break out in laughter at his first line. Dirch's Lennie becomes a running joke, and so has, Dirch believes, his own life.

Just as David and Freja arrive at their newly bought country house close to the Cliffs of Møn the harmony is disturbed by an inexplicably suicide. When David realizes that their new craftsman Roar is linked to the person who fell of the cliff he starts being suspicious. David is also certain that Roar is hitting on Freja. She denies this and all Davids theories. David joins forces with the widow Veronica to solve the case and prove to Freja that he is right. But the closer he gets the truth the further away he gets from Freja. David has to risk everything to unveil circumstances that go far beyond his imagination...

Vader hires Boba Fett to track down the gungan Jar Jar Binks for an accident he caused to Vader. The film also takes place at the same time as the original movies showing Jar Jar responsible for the destruction of the first Death Star and was with Boba at the Jabba's Barge event from Return of the Jedi.

An absurdist, surrealistic and shocking pitch-black comedy, which moves freely from nightmare to fantasy to hilariously deadpan humour as it muses on man’s perpetual inhumanity to man.

A custodian in a housing project discovers that a naked, mute woman he found in one of his apartments has miraculous healing powers.