Thomas Vinterberg

Thomas Vinterberg
Vinterberg in 2010
Born	(1969-05-19)19 May 1969 Frederiksberg,Denmark
Occupations	Film director producer screenwriter actor
Years active	1990–present
Spouses	Maria Walbom ​ ​ (m.1990;div.2007)​ Helene Reingaard Neumann ​ ​ (m.2010)​

Thomas Vinterberg(Danish:[ˈtsʰʌmæsˈve̝nˀtɐˌpɛɐ̯ˀ];born 19 May 1969) is a Danish film director who, along withLars von Trier,co-founded theDogme 95movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production. He is best known for the filmsThe Celebration(1998),Submarino(2010),The Hunt(2012),Far from the Madding Crowd(2015), andAnother Round(2020). ForAnother Round,he was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Director(the first Danish filmmaker nominated for the Best Director category).

Early life and education

Vinterberg was born inFrederiksberg,Denmark.In 1993, he graduated from theNational Film School of DenmarkwithLast Round(Sidste omgang),which won the jury and producers' awards at theInternationales Festival der Filmhochschulen München,and First Prize atTel Aviv.

Career

In 1993 Vinterberg made his first TV drama forDR TVand his short fiction filmThe Boy Who Walked Backwards,produced byBirgitte HaldatNimbus Film.The film won awards at the 1994Nordisk Panorama Film Festival,theInternational Short Film FestivalinClermont-Ferrand,and theToronto International Film Festival.His first feature film wasThe Biggest Heroes(De Største Helte), a road movie that received acclaim in his nativeDenmark.In 1995, Vinterberg formed theDogme 95movement withLars von Trier,Kristian Levring,andSøren Kragh-Jacobsen.

Following that dogma in 1998, he conceived, wrote and directed (and also had a small acting role in) the first of the Dogme movies,The Celebration(Festen). As per the rules of the Dogme manifesto, he did not take a directorial credit. However, he and the film won numerous nominations and awards, including the Jury Prize at the1998 Cannes Film Festival.At the turn of the century, Vinterberg participated in the experimental broadcastD-dag,where he and three other filmmakers directed broadcasts on four different channels, with the viewer able to switch between them and create their own viewing experience. A final edit was released in 2001.

In 2003, he directed theapocalyptic science fictionromance-dramaIt's All About Love,a film he wrote, directed and produced himself over a period of five years. The film was entirely in English and featured, among others,Joaquin Phoenix,Claire Danes,andSean Penn.The movie did not do well, as critics and audiences found it idiosyncratic and somewhat incomprehensible. His next film, the English-languageDear Wendy(2005), scripted byLars von Trier,had poor ticket sales in his native Denmark where it sold only 14,521 tickets.However he won the Silver George for Best Director at the27th Moscow International Film Festival.Vinterberg then tried to retrace his roots with a smaller Danish-language production,En mand kommer hjem(2007), which also had poor ticket sales in his native Denmark, selling only 31,232 tickets.

On 1 August 2008, he directed the music video for "The Day That Never Comes",the first single offMetallica's albumDeath Magnetic.His 2010 filmSubmarinowas nominated for theGolden Bearat the60th Berlin International Film Festival.In 2012, his filmThe Huntcompeted for thePalme d'Orat the2012 Cannes Film Festivaland was nominated forBest Foreign Language Filmat the86th Academy Awards.

In 2015, he directedFar from the Madding Crowd,an adaptation of the acclaimedThomas Hardynovel,starringCarey Mulligan,Matthias Schoenaerts,Michael SheenandTom Sturridge.Vinterberg reunited withMatthias SchoenaertsinKursk,a film about theKursk submarine disasterthat happened in 2000.

In 2019, Vinterberg lost his daughter Ida in a car accident while she was traveling home from Belgium with her mother. As such, he dedicatedAnother Round(Druk) to her, while filming much of the film in her school with her classmates.Vinterberg was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Directorfor the film, which also won theBAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Languageand theAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film;he dedicated the latter award to Ida.He is currently developing his first foray into directing for TV with an original six-episode series calledFamilies Like Ourswhich explores a near-future Denmark when the country is gradually evacuated due torising sea levels.

Filmography

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
1990	Sneblind	Yes	No	Executive
1991	Brudevalsen	Yes	Yes	No
1993	Sidste omgang	Yes	Yes	No
	Slaget på tasken	Yes	Yes	No
1994	Drengen der gik baglæns	Yes	Yes	Yes

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
1996	The Biggest Heroes	Yes	Yes	written withBo Hr. Hansen
1998	The Celebration	Yes	Yes	uncredited as director, written withMogens Rukov
2003	It's All About Love	Yes	Yes	written withMogens Rukov
2005	Dear Wendy	Yes	No
2007	A Man Comes Home	Yes	Yes	written withMogens Rukov
2010	Submarino	Yes	Yes	written withTobias Lindholm
2012	The Hunt	Yes	Yes	also producer, written withTobias Lindholm
2015	Far from the Madding Crowd	Yes	No	based on thebook of the same name
2016	The Commune	Yes	Yes	written withTobias Lindholm
2018	Kursk	Yes	No	based on the bookA Time to Die
2020	Another Round	Yes	Yes	written withTobias Lindholm

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2001	D-Day	Yes	No	Experimental film, in collaboration withSøren Kragh-Jacobsen,Kristian Levring,andLars von Trier
2023	Families Like Ours	Yes	Yes	Miniseries

Awards and honours

In April 2016, the French government appointed Vinterberg aChevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.For his filmAnother Roundhe was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Directorand won theBAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.

External links

• Thomas VinterbergatIMDb
• CNN interview with Thomas Vinterberg
• Thomas Vinterbergin theDanish Film Database
• Thomas Vinterberg: About a scene by Ingmar BergmanVideo interview byLouisiana Channel,2013