03/03/2014 - After 9 Metre on last year’s shortlist, Anders Walter’s portrait of a terminally ill boy has won the fourth Academy Award for Denmark’s M&M Productions

Last night, Danish director Anders Walter’s 23-minute-long Helium received the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater – the fourth win for a Danish short, following Election Night (1999), This Charming Man (2003) and The New Tenants (2010), all produced by Tivi and Kim Magnusson’s Copenhagen-based M&M Productions.

Denmark’s two other Academy Award nominees, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt [+see also:
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interview: Thomas Vinterberg
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile], competing for Best Foreign Language Film, and US director Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing [+see also:
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Scripted by Walter and Christian Gamst Miller-Harris, Helium is the story of a young boy, Alfred, who is hospitalised, terminally ill. He makes friends with an eccentric cleaning man, Enzo, and finds comfort in Helium, a fantasy world made of floating islands full of hope, which they create together.

"There is every reason to be proud – another Danish film has obtained an Oscar. Congratulations to Helium and the team,” said Henrik Bo Nielsen, managing director of the Danish Film Institute. Also a comic-book artist and illustrator, Walter had previously directed two shorts, The Talking Suitcase (2011) and 9 Metre, which was shortlisted for last year’s nominations.

"When we imminently agree on the legislation for Danish film production in the coming four years, it will be important that we continue to aim high and secure a financial framework which not only allows us to place our trust in established names, but also makes space for new talent, experiments and playful narrative joy,” he added.