Henning Carlsen (1927–) is a
Danish
film director, screenwriter, and producer most
noted for his documentaries and his contributions to the style of
cinema verite. Carlsen's 1966
social-realistic drama
Hunger (
Sult) was nominated for the
Palme D'Or and won the
Bodil Award for Best Danish
Film. Carlsen also won the Bodil Award the following year for
the comedy
People Meet and
Sweet Music Fills the Heart. Acting as his own producer
since 1960, Carlsen has directed more than 25 films, 19 for which
he wrote the screenplay. In 2006, he received the Golden Swan
Lifetime Achievement Award at the
Copenhagen International
Film Festival.
Career
Henning Carlsen was born on
4 June 1927 in Aalborg
, Denmark.
Carlsen became an assistant director at Minerva Film in 1948 and
received his on-the-job training there. He was attached with
Minerva until 1953 when he shifted to
Nordisk Film. Carlsen began by writing and
directing short documentaries and industry films, and with this
background he flourished in the production of the
cinema verite style. His documentary trilogy,
De Gamle (
The Elderly - 1961)),
Familiebilleder (
Family pictures- 1964) and
Ung (
Youth - 1965), created a classic portrait of
1960's Denmark as the nation revolutionized and transformed into a
modern welfare society Especially noted was Carlsen's technique of
rhythmic editing in
De Gamle which produced a lyrical
portrait of retirees without any needed commentary.
In 1962, Carlsen continued in cinema verite style with his first
feature film, the harsh social drama
A World of Strangers (
Dilemma). Based upon the 1958 novel
about
apartheid by
Nadine Gordimer, Carlsen filmed illegally on
location in South Africa with use of a hidden camera.
He followed this
effort with the 1966 drama Hunger (Sult) based upon the autobiographical novel of
Norwegian
author Knut
Hamsun. With its stark focus on a life of poverty and
desperation, the film is considered a masterpiece of
social realism and is one of the ten films
listed in Denmark's cultural canon by the Danish Ministry of
Culture. Carlsen was nominated for the
Palme
D'Or and won the
Bodil Award for Best Danish
Film.
The following year, Carlsen changed pace from his realistic dramas
and made the comedy
People Meet and
Sweet Music Fills the Heart (
Mennesker mødes og sød
musik opstår i hjertet) based on the work of Jens August
Schade. Again, he was awarded the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film.
During his career, Carlsen has maintained interest in popular
comedies with such films as
Oh, to Be on the Bandwagon!
(
Man sku være
noget ved musikken), in collaboration with
Benny Andersen, and
I Wonder Who's Kissing You
Now?. In 1967, Carlsen returned to the same format of
social realism he used in
Sult with the drama
We are
All Demons (
Klaubauterman), a story based upon a
novel by Axel Sandemose.
In 1986, Carlsen filmed the international production
Wolf at
the Door starring Donald Sutherland. During his career,
Carlsen has written 19 films and directed 21. He has also directed
for both theater and television. Since 1966, Carlsen has been a
teacher and member of the advisory council for the National Film
School in Denmark. In 2006, Carlsen was the recipient of the Golden
Swan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Copenhagen Film
Festival.
Personal life
Carlsen Henning was married the first time to Hjørdis Wirth Jensen.
In 1975 he married a second time with film consultant Else
Heidary.
Filmography
References
- Hjort, Mette & Ib Bondebjerg, The Danish
Directors, Intellect Books, (2001) 228pg, p42 ISBN
1841508411
- "Hæder til Henning Carlsen", DR, dr.dk
news, 29 August 2006, retrieved 16 June 2009
- Nissen, Dan 100 Års Dansk Film, Rosinante, (2001)
445pg, p218 ISBN 87-621-0157-9
- Kulturkanon, Danish Ministry of Culture,
www.kulturkanon.kum.dk, retrieved February 12 2008
Further reading
Wakeman, John. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages
180-184. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. ISBN
9780824207571
External links
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