DANIMARCA

COPENHAGEN DOES NOT EXIST København Findes Ikke

2022 – DCP – colore – 100’

Direction: Martin Skovbjerg

Screenplay: Eskil Vogt, dal romanzo based on the novel Sander di by Terje Holtet Larsen

Cinematography: Jacob Møller

Editing: Olivier Bugge Coutté, Jenna Mangulad

Set design: Silje Aune Dammen

Costumes: Fianna Robijn

Cast: Jonas Holst Schmidt (Sander), Angela Bundalovic (Ida), Zlatko Buric (Porath), Vilmer Trier Brøgger (Victor), Christopher Læssø (Marcello)

Producers: Eva Jakobsen, Mikkel Jersin, Katrin Pors

Production: Snowglobe (Dk), Oslo Pictures (No), Zentropa Sweden (Se), Don’t Look Now (No)

World Sales: TrustNordisk

synopsis

A young woman has disappeared without a trace. Three months later her boyfriend agrees to an unusual arrangement: to be locked in an apartment and interrogated by the woman’s father.

It soon becomes obvious that even long before her disappearance, the two lovers had chosen a strange and unconventional life: cut off from the world, isolated in the middle of the big city.

The director: Martin Skovbjerg

Martin Skovbjerg (b. 1980) is a Danish award winning director. He is renowned for his intuitive directing style and for his capacity to create organic and authentic performances in his work with non-actors as well as established talent. Martin made his TV debut in 2015 with the critically acclaimed youth series Anton 90, which was praised for its bold formalistic approach, launched by the Danish national broadcaster DR. For his innovative webisode drama Fastland, which launched in 2018 as a prequel to his debut feature, he won the Danish national Best New TV Award.

Martin’s debut feature Sticks and Stones had its European premiere at BFI in the Dare section, and was nominated for Best Youth Film at the Danish Academy Awards and for Best Film at Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma. The film also landed him a nomination for the New Talent Award at CPH PIX.

Director’s statement

“(…) this story, as it was written, is impossible to visualise. So, I thought, let’s do it! It’s insanely well written, the connection of time, the understanding of love. Three days after reading it I quit Facebook. It was that impactful to me. Why are we here? Why do we spend so much time thinking about what other people are doing? Stuff like that. Those thoughts came first. Then there was the love between the two main characters, obviously. Their connection to each other, how they view the world and kind of avoid it. The story had an impact on me, and so I was eager to work on it and bring it to the big screen. (…) That’s what Eskil does in his writing: he creates characters which you first hate and then start to fall in love with. Or the other way around. Not as you normally do, where you mostly know from the beginning which path a character will take throughout the movie. It’s kind of like in real life.”

Filmography

2015 Anton 90 (tv series)

2018 Brakland (Sticks and Stones)

2022 København Findes Ikke (Copenhagen Does Not Exist)

Awards and festivals

2023 Rotterdam IFF – Big Screen

2023 Göteborg FF – Competition:  Nykvist Cinematography Award to Jacob Møller

2023 Istanbul FF – International Competition

2023 Las Palmas De Gran Canaria IFF

2023 Cinelibri IFF 

2023 Kaohsiung FF 

2023 Seattle IFF – New Directors Competition

2023 Ghent Flanders IFF

2023 Burgas IFF: Miglior Film Best Film