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Christian Rank

Producer on the Move 2010 - Denmark

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A former student of the Danish Film School, Christian Rank joined the Danish production house Tju Bang Film in 2005. He produced several documentaries and short films for them, including Martin de Thurah’s Young Man Falling, selected in the 2008 Semaine de la Critique. Since 2008, he has been working as in-house producer at the high-profile Copenhagen-based production outfit Miso Film.

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Cineuropa: What kind of cinema genre do you enjoy the most?
Christian Rank: I’m attracted to original, character-driven stories, told with a distinct and clear voice. I’ll go for a film of any genre as long as it’s a great story well told.

After several shorts and docs, you were hired by Miso Film, which makes high-profile Scandinavian films and TV dramas. What have you learned from working for them since 2008?
I started at Miso Film out of a desire to learn how to produce high-quality films with healthy financing. I’m gaining enormous experience working with big, market-oriented projects. These projects give an insight in terms of financing, market and audience that’s also very valuable when working with smaller films. No matter the genre or the size of the film, it’s important to respect the money as much as the art. Merging art and the market is an interesting thing to do.

You’re currently part of the team behind the major Scandinavian crime series Those who Kill, your biggest project so far (€11m). What are the biggest challenges of such a project?
When working with a project of such a size, with so many parties involved – financially as well as creatively – it’s a challenge to define and maintain a clear direction and vision for the project. I feel that it’s part of my responsibility to communicate as clearly and openly as possible with the filmmakers as well as the investors involved. Letting everyone know where exactly we’re heading and why we’re going in just that direction is very important when you’re asking them to go along with you.

Tell us about your project Film Forum, which you’re developing with your production colleague Caroline Blanco.
Film Forum provides six of the most talented young Danish scriptwriters with the opportunity to take time off from other obligations and focus on developing their own ideas. Film Forum is a reaction to an ongoing discussion in the Danish film community about the lack of skilled young scriptwriters with the desire and the time to write feature films, as there has been a tendency for young writers to end up working in television or for already acclaimed directors.

But in our experience, young writers have plenty of ideas, they just need a space to develop them. So that’s why we created Film Forum, because we really want to help promote these writers and their projects and help our generation of filmmakers make their voices heard.

What does it mean for you to be selected as Producer on the Move?
First of all, it’s a great opportunity for me to shine a light on the projects and the filmmakers I’m currently working with. Furthermore, it’s a chance for me to expand my European network and forge new, valuable relationships across our national borders. It’s important – culturally as well as financially – that we strive to make films that can travel.

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