Denmark Shortlists Three Films For Oscars 2022
The Danish Oscar Committee has announced a shortlist of three films to be considered for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards: Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Margrete Queen of the North by Charlotte Sieling and Shadows In My Eyes by Ole Bornedal. The final submission will be announced on 25th October.
Director of the Danish Film Institute, Claus Ladegaard, said: “Our task is to determine the three films that we believe have the greatest potential in the Oscar race. The field ranges from a gripping current documentary about a refugee’s fate to two strong dramas about key periods in Danish history. Three bids with significant narratives and cinematic quality, each of which has the chance to make an impression at the Oscar Academy.”
The 94th Academy Awards will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences during a gala ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday 27th March 2022. A shortlist of fifteen films will be announced by the Academy on 21st December 2021 and the final five nominees will be revealed on 8th February 2022.
Flee (Flugt)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Starring: Rashid Aitouganov
The extraordinary true story of Amin, on the verge of a marriage which compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time. This secret that he has been hiding for over twenty years threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself which began with a dramatic journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan to Denmark.
Margrete – Queen of the North (Margrete den første)
Directed by Charlotte Sieling
Starring: Trine Dyrholm, Søren Malling, Morten Hee Andersen
The year is 1402. Margrete (Trine Dyrholm) has achieved what no man has managed before. She has brought Denmark, Norway and Sweden together into a peaceful kingdom known as the Kalmar Union, which she rules through her young, adopted son, Erik.
However, the union is beset by enemies, and so Margrete plans a marriage between Erik and Philippa of Lancaster, the daughter of King Henry IV. An alliance with England should secure the union’s status as an emerging European power but a conspiracy is underway that could tear Margrete apart along with all that she believes in.
Shadows In My Eyes (Skyggen i mit øje)
Directed by Ole Bornedal
Starring: Alex Høgh Andersen, Danica Curcic, Susse Wold
On March 21st, 1945, the British Royal Air Force set out on a crucial mission to aid the Danish resistance movement by bombing the Gestapo’s headquarters in Copenhagen. The raid succeeded but, when a plane crashed nearby, subsequent bombers mistook the French School for their target, resulting in the death of more than 120 people including 86 children.