Greenlandic film
A continuous production of Greenlandic films, with a predominant participation of Greenlandic producers , directors and actors , has only existed since 2009. However, films with Greenlandic or Danish directors and actors were made during the Danish colonial times, and clichéd presentations were not absent. Only a long time after the achievement of internal autonomy did the establishment of a film industry begin in 1979. This benefited from the increasing international attention that the country received as a result of its cultural peculiarities, its climatic extreme situation and, more recently, from massive climate change.
Danish colonial times
The first short silent film related to Greenland was made in 1897. Back then, photographer Peter Elfelt was shooting Kørsel med Grønlandskehund (“Ride with Greenlandic sled dogs”) in Denmark , where the Greenland inspector Johan Carl Joensen can be seen dog sledding for a minute. This was probably also the very first Danish film. As the first Danish ethnologist and Eskimologist , William Thalbitzer made film recordings in Greenland in 1906 and 1914.
The German-Danish film Das Eskimobaby (1916) by Walter Schmidthäusler portrayed the life of the Greenlanders with the leading actress Asta Nielsen, disguised as Inuk , as cliché .
From 1918 to the 1940s, numerous short travel documentaries and expedition films were made under Danish administration (mostly silent films , all in black and white ). In 1933, during Knud Rasmussen's 7th Thule expedition, the film Palos Brudefærd ("Palos Bridal Trip") was made under the direction of Friedrich Dalsheim , a mixture of ethnographic and feature film, which, however, also served the cliché of innocent natural people.
The first sound film (in Norwegian) was the Danish-Norwegian film Eskimo (1930) by George Schnéevoigt . It is not to be confused with the MGM film Eskimo , which was shot in Alaska in 1933 with local cast members . In 1940, Inuit was the first ethnographic color film in Greenland with a length of 71 minutes, shot by the Danish photographer Jette Bang .
In the early days of the Cold War, Greenland moved to the center of geopolitical disputes between the great powers, which completely masked the interest in indigenous culture. Films were also made that described Europeans longing for the untouched and healthy nature of Greenland from a Eurocentric point of view, such as Qivitoq - Fjeldgængeren (“Qivittoq - He Goes into the Mountains”, 1956) by Erik Balling and Tukuma (for example: “The always in Hurry is “) (1984) by Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt . Ballings' film also promoted the "gentle" Danish colonial administration.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the drive for independence increased; as a result, some critical political films were made. The half-hour documentary Sisimiut (1966) by Jørgen Roos (1922–1998) takes place in the town of the same name and deals with the conflict of interests and culture between the European fishing industry and local hunters. Da myndighederne sagde stop ("When the authorities said stop", 1972) is a documentary from a panel discussion with the Greenlandic poet and politician Aqqaluk Lynge about the controversial abandonment of the coal mine in Qullissat . The director was the Danish artist Per Kirkeby . The city was forcibly resettled after mining became unprofitable.
The film Narsaq - Ung by i Grönland (“ Narsaq - young city in Greenland”, 1979) by the Danish Claus Hermansen , which was commissioned by the city administration, was more of a promotional nature .
Start of independent film production since the autonomy from 1979 to 2009
The founding of the Greenland TV Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa (KNR) in 1982 was important for the development of Greenlandic film . In 1994, the Latvian-Greenlandic author, photographer and producer Ivars Sīlis published the documentary Vor enestående tid (“Our Unique Time”) on climate change, addressing a phenomenon that subsequently increased interest in Greenland. It wasn't until 1997 that the first Katuaq cinema was opened in the capital Nuuk . The modest budgets forced Greenland producers to produce short films first. These include Eskimo Weekend (2000) by Inuk Silis-Høegh (the son of Ivars Sīlis), the cartoon Nanoq (2000) and Angelina Ballerina (2003) by Kunuk Platou (* 1964) and Inuk City Woman Blues (2002) by Laila Hansen (* 1966).
Although a Danish production directed by Jacob Grønlykke , Lysets hjerte ("Heart of Light", 1988) was the first film with a script written by Greenlandic Hans Anthon Lynge and Greenlandic leading actors, especially with the popular Rasmus Lyberth . It is therefore often mentioned as the first Greenlandic feature film. The film deals with the conflict between tradition and modernity and the widespread alcoholism.
The first feature film made entirely by Greenlanders, however, was Nuummioq (2009), a love story with Lars Rosing and Julie Berthelsen , which shows how a young Nuuk resident deals with a cancer diagnosis. Directed by Otto Rosing and Torben Bech . The film was a huge hit in Greenland and was screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah .
present
Since 2009, Greenland has made about one feature film a year, which is a remarkable number considering the population of almost 60,000. In 2012, film.gl was founded as the organization and website of the Greenlandic filmmakers, which promotes both co-productions and the fact that foreign films are shot in front of the Greenlandic ice backdrop. Due to the limited Greenland-Danish market, Greenland directors are increasingly working with non-Danish foreign filmmakers, while they themselves are often present in several media (e.g. also as musicians).
Aka Hansen (* 1987), born in Denmark, founded the production company Tumit together with Malik Kleist , who had previously worked for television, and came out in 2011 with her first comedy Hinnarik Sinnattunilu ("Hendrik and his dream"). Angajo Lennert-Sandgreen was the director and leading actor . Hansen also worked on an internet science fiction series set in Greenland ( Polar , 2017).
One of the most important recent films is the Franco-Greenlandic film Inuk (2010), which has received numerous awards for directing, editing and cinematography. The focus of the adventure film by the American director Mike Magidson (* 1967), who lives in Europe , on whose screenplay Ole Jørgen Hammeken and the anthropologist Jean-Michel Huctin contributed, is a 16-year-old boy from Nuuk who dreams of becoming an Inuit rock band but is neglected by his alcoholic mother and moves north to the seal hunters, i.e. to his cultural roots. His life is in danger on this hunting trip. The producer was Ann Andreasen , born in the Faroe Islands , who runs the northernmost children's home in the world in Uummannaq .
Also from 2010 is the drama Eksperimentet, produced by Louise Friedberg and directed by Ellen Hillingsø . It follows on from a process in 1951 when a group of 22 young Greenlanders were brought to Denmark to be re-educated according to Danish culture. Some of the children were later sent back to Greenland and lived there in a children's home. They were supposed to serve as role models for Greenlandic society, but had forgotten their language and were traumatized .
Malik Kleist wrote the script and directed the production of the first Greenlandic horror film Qaqqat Alanngui ("The Shadows of the Mountains"; 2011), working with amateur actors. Inuk Silis-Høegh turned together with the Greenland producer Emile Hertling Peronard 2014 highly political music film Sume - mumisitsinerup nipaa (Dan. Sume - lyden af en revolution , Eng. Sumé: the sound of a revolution ) on the role of the first Greenlandic rock band Sumé ( “Where?”) In the decolonization process. This film was shown at the 2015 Berlinale and at over 80 other festivals. Aka Hansen's short film NATIVe - Half & half was presented at the Berlinale 2017.
Numerous documentary films - also with international participation - are made. Newer Greenlandic documentaries are Nothing on Earth (2013) by Michael Angus and Translations (2017) by Tinne Zenner and Call of the Ice (2016) by American native Mike Magidson about his attempts to survive as a hunter. ThuleTuvalu by Matthias von Gunten shows the consequences of global warming using two different regions of the world in the Pacific and in the northern Arctic Ocean. The Norwegian documentary Winter's Yearning (2019) by Sidse Torstholm Larsen and Sturla Pilskog is about the close ties between an American aluminum company and the Greenland city of Maniitsoq . The focus is on economic challenges and personal decisions. The Danish-British documentary Greenland: A Village at the End of the World (2012) by Sarah Gavron and David Katznelson is about a teenager in Niaqornat , where people still live exclusively from traditional forms of fishing and hunting. The residents are trying to buy a fish factory as a cooperative in order to secure their livelihoods under the conditions of climate change.
Due to the climate changes, Greenland with its complex forms of life and survival, which in the cities of the south resemble those in Scandinavia , is moving more into the spotlight, while the colonial memories and trauma are only slowly fading. In 2012 the film festival Greenland Eyes took place in Berlin for the first time . In 2014/15 it toured in other Nordic countries, the USA and Greece. The development of a small but lively film scene shows that Greenland is no longer defined by Denmark. The possibility and the consequences of complete independence from Denmark are also discussed in the films.
literature
- Lilya Kaganovsky, Scott MacKenzie, Anna Westerstahl Stenport (Eds.): Arctic Cinemas and the Documentary Ethos: Indiana UP, 2019.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Danish film database
- ↑ Tukuma on imdb.com
- ↑ Web site film.gl
- ↑ Emily Henderson: Aka Hansen: Circumpolar Cinama on inuitartfoundation.org, August 6, 2019
- ↑ John Sundholm, Isak Thorsen, Lars Gustaf Andersson, Olof Hedling, Gunnar Iversen, Birgir Thor Møller: Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema. Scarecrow Press, 2012, p. 182.
- ↑ Trailer for Hinnarik Sinnatunilu on youtube.com
- ↑ Inuk on imdb.com
- ↑ Official Website b on web.archive.org
- ↑ Eksperimentet on imdb.com
- ↑ Qaqqat Alanngui on imdb.com
- ↑ Trailer on youtube.com
- ↑ Winter's Yearning on imdb.com
- ↑ Info on ard.de
- ^ Festival website