28/06/2013 - Last year, productions by Danish directors Thomas Vinterberg, Susanne Bier, Lars von Trier and Nikolaj Arcel returned €700,000 support from the European Council

Eurimages - the European Council’s co-production fund –annually supplies top finance for 60-70 European film productions, which must only be paid back when all private investors have been covered. In 2012 four films reimbursed €700,000 of their support - €39,000 less than the previous year, and they were all Danish: Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile], Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winner Love Is All You Need [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Lars von Trier’s Melancholia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile], and Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
interview: Nikolaj Arcel
film profile].

"It is unheard of that all repayments come from one country. Our reputation is now that besides creating artistically interesting films, which win festival prizes, Denmark also produces films that sell tickets to an international audience. Many of my colleagues from larger countries with higher budgets are looking enviously at Denmark,” said Steen Bille, film consultant at the Danish Film Institute and Denmark’s Eurimages representative.

"High budget productions are often massively funded by private investors - to pay them back is like throwing money into a big black hole. But Danish producers are also clever at setting up sensible budgets. When I disclose the budget of A Royal Affair to foreigners, they can rarely understand that it is possible to make such a great period film for this amount,” he explained on the institute’s website, adding he thinks Eurimages appreciates that Danish films delivers a sound economy and strong performances at the box office.

Eurimages has just chipped in €410,000 for Danish director Mikkel Nørgaard’s The Pheasant Killers, from Zentropa Entertainments. €200,000 went to SF Film for participating in Polish director Anna Kazejak’s The World, and Profile Pictures for Icelandic director Hafsteinn Sigurdsson’s Kalt vor.