28/10/2008

At the Rome Film Festival to present When a Man Comes Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (in the Extra sidebar and scheduled to come out in Italy in the spring through Teodora Film), Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg has left the US – "but only for now,” he specifies.

After making two rather controversial films in America (It's All About Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Dear Wendy), he returned home to make a movie that is possibly inspired by autobiographical events, beginning with the title. The film centres on young Sebastian (debut actor Oliver Möller Knauer), who has always believed his father committed suicide until opera singer Karl Kristian Schmidt (Thomas Bo Larsen) returns to his provincial tow. Schmidt is Sebastian’s real father but the life-changing revelations about his private life do not end there.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Cineuropa: The film has already been released in Denmark. How was it received there?
Thomas Vinterberg: Rather poorly. Or, rather, more coldly than elsewhere. In countries that close, in terms of geography or sensibility, for example Norway, it won awards and received good reviews, but my country people do not forgive me for having gone to America, contributing to the burial of Dogma and thus turning the attention of worldwide spectators away from Danish cinema.

Now that [Dogma] has ended, what is the situation of contemporary Danish cinema?
The Dogma Manifesto was a wonderful opportunity to be a team, to unite the country’s filmmakers. We founders still see each other, Lars von Trier and Susanne Bier are friends. But we’ve all sought out other paths, we distanced ourselves from a movement that was becoming a brand, and would have ended up limiting our creativity. The climate that existed then does not exist now, young directors from my country are alone, groping their way in the dark. There is a crisis in Danish cinema right now, perhaps the worst in our history. But I think that this situation could also be a symptom of vitality.

When a Man Comes Home is similar, at least in content (a family reunion, the secrets of a small community that are revealed), to The Celebration, the film that launched your career….
Yes, but that’s all they have in common. This is much warmer, more organic film. This is why I wanted to set the film in Italy, but my producers said that was impossible. Berlusconi created a tabula rasa of the financing. I chose to shoot in film, 35mm is involving whereas digital is a more cynical way of filming reality. With The Celebration I delivered a number of blows to audiences, while When a Man Comes Home is meant to be a softer film.

In the cast, debut actor Oliver Möller Knauer is flanked by a veteran of your films, Thomas Bo Larsen. How was it working with the actors?
I’ve made almost all of my films with Thomas. Working with professionals like him is comfortable – the director explains what he wants and gets it. It’s completely different with debut actors. They say: "So, here I am, what do I have to do?" It is an exhilarating but more complicated approach.

After the comedy of this film, will you continue in this lighter tone?
No, my next project will be a very dark film. I begin shooting in January, it will be a low-budget film that delves into the dark heart of Scandinavia, a noir based on the novel Submarino by Jonas T. Bengtsson. It is a very Danish project.

So for now you won’t be returning to America?
I wouldn’t rule it out, sooner or later, but my heart is in Europe and I like filming here.