A Filipino film takes centerstage in the fifth edition of the Danish Film Festival in Manila.
NUUK, the first Filipino movie filmed in Greenland, is set to open the Danish Film Festival on Wednesday, 9th of October at the Red Carpet Cinema 4, Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City. The film is headlined by Aga Muhlach and Alice Dixson and directed by Veronica Velasco. Together with nine (9) full length Danish films, the festival will showcase the strength and variety of the Danish film culture until October 13.
5th Danish Festival line-up
Nuuk
2019 | Nordic Noir | R13
Elaisa Svendsen (Alice Dixson) is a Filipina immigrant in Nuuk, Greenland struggling to survive the recent death of her husband. Abandoned by Karl (Ujarneq Fleischer), her only son, she tries to cope using alcohol and drugs. Her life changes when she meets Mark Alvarez (Aga Muhlach). Mark is a fellow Filipino fighting loneliness that surrounds the city. Together, they find love in the cold and isolated place of Nuuk. When all seems perfect, Mark disappears without a trace.
Darling
2017 | Drama | Allowed for children over the age of 11* | 1hr 41min
Darling is a world-famous Danish ballerina. After a long absence, she and her husband Frans return to the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen to perform the classic ballet ‘Giselle.’ She will dance the title role with Frans as choreographer. During rehearsal, Darling collapses in pain. Try as she may to deny it, the prognosis is clear: her hip is irreparably damaged. She will never dance again. Her professional life, her world, is in ruins. But Darling refuses to let go. She decides to train her replacement, a young ballerina named Polly, to make Polly the Giselle she can no longer be. But as Polly becomes the center of attention, of Frans’ attention, Darling’s emotional stability begins to unravel.
I Am William (Jeg er William)
2017 | Fiction | 1hr 26min
William lives with his uncle Nils. His father is dead and his mother is mentally unstable. Nils retired early and spends his day buying and selling stuff at a favourable price. Nils owes some gangsters money and they want their debt paid back.
The Charmer (Charmøren)
2017 | Fiction | 1hr 40min
Iranian Esmail is being deported from Denmark and is fighting desperately to stay. When he meets Danish-Persian Sara, Esmail unexpectedly falls in love with her. But time is running out and one man – whose life Esmail has ruined in his attempt to find a place in Danish society – is on his case.
Awards: 2018 FEST International Film Festival Winner, Belgrade Victor – Best Film Main Program & Jury Prize Main Program – Best Screenplay; 2018 Goteborg Film Festival Sven Nykvist Cinematography Award Winner; 2018 Pam Springs International Film Festival New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize; 2018 Sakhalin International Film Festival Grand Prix Winner; 2018 Taipei Film Festival International New Talent Competition – Special Jury Prize; 2017 Tbilisi International Film Festival Human Rights Award – Best Film and Silver Prometheus – Best Director; 2017 Warsaw International Film Festival Competition 1-2 Award – Best Film; 2017 Chicago International Film Festival Silver Hugo Winner, New Directors Competition; 2017 Lubeck Nordic Film Days NDR Film Prize Winner – Best Feature Film; 2017 San Sebastian International Film Festival Kutxa Award – Fedeora Award.
Across the Waters (Fuglene over sundet)
2016 | Narrative | Allowed for children over the age of 15* | 1h 30min
The year is 1943 and rumors have it, that the Germans are about to deport all Danish Jews. The Jewish jazz musician Arne Itkin, his wife and their 5-year-old son quickly realize that they have to flee to safety in Sweden, in order to avoid the horrors of the concentration camps. But who can be trusted when Gestapo and Danish collaborators are on their heels to stop anyone from fleeing the country.
A Fortunate Man (Lykke-Per)
2018 | Comedy | 16+ | 2hr 47min
A gifted engineer flees his austere roots to pursue wealth and success among Copenhagen’s elite, but the pride propelling him threatens to be his ruin.
Awards: 2019 Beijing International Film Festival Tiantian Award Winner for Best Film; 2019 Bodil Awards Winner for Best Supporting Actress; 2018 Hamburg Film Festival Critics Award Nominee; 2019 Robert Festival Winner for Best Actress, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design.
Team Hurricane
2017 | Drama | Allowed for children over the age of 11* | 1hr 30min
A punk chick flick that mixes documentary material with highly stylized fiction. Over the course of one Danish summer, eight teenage girls comes to realise that they need each other in order to ride out the storm of hurricane season that is adolescence.
Award: 2017 Venice International Week of Film Critics Verona Film Club Award.
Circleen, Coco and the Wild Rhinoceros (Cirkeline, Coco og det vilde næsehorn)
2018 | Animation | 1hr 4min
Cirkeline finds a bestie with the airs of a princess, and Ingolf meets a rhinoceros who’s fed up with always being the little one. They set off together on a journey that teaches them that being in charge isn’t always a piece of cake and that even the teeniest of rhinos can prove the greatest of heroes.
Ordet (The Word)
1955 | Allowed for children over the age of 11* | 1hr 29min
The Day Will Come (Der kommer en dag)
2016 | 1hr 59min
In 1967, two brothers from Copenhagen, Denmark, wind up in an orphanage, where the headmaster’s cruel tyranny slowly provokes the kids to push back.
Awards: 2017 Robert Festival – Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design; 2017 Bodil Awards – Best Supporting Actor; 2016 Hamburg Film Festival – Audience Award; 2016 Norwegian International Filkm Festival – FIPRESCI Prize.
* Danish rating from the Danish Film Institute website
Admission
All screenings are FREE and on a first come, first served basis.
5th Danish Film Festival Screening Schedule
Red Carpet Cinema 4
| Date | Movie | Time |
| Oct 9 / Wed | Nuuk (premiere) | 7:30PM |
| Oct 10 / Thurs | I Am William | 2:30 PM |
| Darling | 4:30 PM | |
| The Day Will Come | 6:40 PM | |
| A Fortunate Man | 9:00 PM | |
| Oct 11 / Fri | Team Hurricane | 1:20 PM |
| The Charmer | 3:30 PM | |
| Across the Waters | 5:40 PM | |
| A Fortunate Man | 9:00 PM | |
| Oct 12 / Sat | Ordet | 2:00 PM |
| Nuuk | 4:30 PM | |
| Darling | 7:00 PM | |
| I Am William | 9:00 PM | |
| Oct 13 / Sun | Circleen, Coco & The Wold Rhinoceros | 2:15 PM |
| Team Hurricane | 4:35 PM | |
| Nuuk | 6:50 PM | |
| Across the Waters | 9:00 PM |
For more information visit Denmark in the Philippines Facebook page.