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The familiar vengeance payback genre has some goofy and entirely welcome top-spin applied to it in Anders Thomas Jensen’s Riders Of Justice. The Danish film also features a version of Mads Mikkelsen — currently at a career peak — that we’ve never seen before, with his handsome face hidden behind an Ozark-style full beard as a tough army officer ill-prepared to console his bereft teenaged daughter in the wake of her mother’s violent death.

Writer-director Jensen knows Mikkelsen well, having written previous films for the actor including The Salvation, After The Wedding and Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself. Jensen has also enjoyed good fortune at the Oscars — directing 1998 Best Short Subject winner, Election Night; as co-writer of the 2009 winner in the same category, The New Tenants; and as screenwriter of Suzanne Bier’s 2011 Best Foreign Language Film laureate, In A Better World.

At the outset, Riders Of Justice, which...

Few directors have done more than Lone Scherfig to rehabilitate the disparaged genre of the romantic comedy. Since her international breakthrough with the low-budget feature Italian for Beginners — which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2000 — the Danish director has combined the sweet with the sour, the laughs with the tears, to create authentic love stories that feed both head and heart.

After the success of Italian for Beginners and its follow-up, 2002’s dark comedy Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Scherfig became somewhat of a go-to director for British rom-coms and literary adaptations — An Education, One Day, Riot ...

Few directors have done more than Lone Scherfig to rehabilitate the disparaged genre of the romantic comedy. Since her international breakthrough with the low-budget feature Italian for Beginners — which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2000 — the Danish director has combined the sweet with the sour, the laughs with the tears, to create authentic love stories that feed both head and heart.

After the success of Italian for Beginners and its follow-up, 2002’s dark comedy Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Scherfig became somewhat of a go-to director for British rom-coms and literary adaptations — An Education, One Day, Riot ...

The 69th Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 7, 2019 with the world premiere of Lone Scherfig’s drama The Kindness of Strangers, which will also play in competition.

The English-language Denmark-Canada co-production charts the interconnected story of a handful of New Yorkers struggling with personal crises during the city’s unforgiving winter. The ensemble cast includes Zoe Kazan, Tahar Rahim, Andrea Riseborough, Caleb Landry Jones, Jay Baruchel and Bill Nighy.

HanWay Films represents worldwide sales rights with backers including Ingenious Media and Apollo Media. Entertainment One will distribute the film in Canada and Sf Studios in Scandinavia.

Malene Blenkov produced the film for Denmark’s Creative Alliance and Canada’s Strada Films with the participation of The Danish Film Institute and Telefilm Canada, Danmarks Radio, Ontario Creates, Copenhagen Film Fund, Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Entertainment One and Ingenious Senior Film Fund / Apollo Media, in co-production with Sweden’s Unlimited Stories,...

Simon Brew Aug 18, 2017

Looking for a film to watch, that you might not have considered before? Try some of these...

Sometimes, we figure, you come to a site like this just to find out about a film you didn’t know about. That you want recommendations of movies that you might not otherwise have uncovered. This list, then, has no theme, save that the films on it are really good, and didn’t get much of an audience first time around. That, or they seem to have been forgotten. It’s a real mix, but hopefully, there’s something on here that appeals..

The Brady Bunch Movie

The Brady Bunch films never really seemed to do much business in the UK, and that’s a real pity. No foreknowledge of the series is required, and the first movie takes the Brady film and transplants them into 1990s America, with no...

Fresh Ideas for Storytelling and Outreach will feature a conversation with The multi-award winning Danish director Lone Scherfig, Julie Bergeron, Head of Industry Programmes in Cannes and founder of the Rencontres de Coproduction Francophone in Paris and journalist and author Katja Eichinger will hold a conversation about Fresh Ideas for Storytelling and Outreach to Attract Audiences in a Changing Cinema Landscape.

In the face of continually changing viewing habits, sticking to the existing standards of cinema is not enough. We need to challenge the ways stories are told and find new ways for audience engagement. Which new opportunities have arisen in these fields and how can we successfully make use of them?

Lone Scherfig

Embarking with us on this creative journey are multi-award winning director and writer Lone Scherfig (“An Education”, “Italians for Beginners”, “Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself”) and Julie Bergeron, Head of Industry Programs in Cannes and founder...

The Riot Club director will deliver her speech in December.

BAFTA has announced that Danish director Lone Scherfig is to deliver it’s David Lean Lecture Dec 15 at its London headquarters.

Scherfig, director of The Riot Club and An Education, will be the first woman to deliver the lecture, following previous speakers including Paul Greengrass, Robert Altman, John Boorman, Oliver Stone, David Lynch and Pedro Almodóvar.

The annual film lecture aims to provide an insight into the experiences and creative achievements of filmmakers.

Scherfig is currently directing Astronaut Wives Club, a 10-part drama for ABC Studios, which tells the story of the women behind some of the biggest events in Us history.

Nik Powell, chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, said Scherfig was “a unique talent as well as being a torchbearer for women directors everywhere”.

Scherfig began her career directing commercials and television dramas in her native Denmark. Her first feature as director, The Birthday...

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

streaming now, while it’s still in cinemas

Blood Ties: some excellent performances — by Clive Owen and Billy Crudup — can’t disguise the fact that there’s absolutely nothing here we haven’t seen too many times before [my review] [iTunes UK]

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: suffers badly by comparison with the cogent, witty Avengers flicks — this feels like a campy Saturday-morning cartoon left over from the 1970s [my review] [iTunes UK]

new to stream

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: stuns me with its scathing commentary on what is happening in the real world today, wrapped up in what is some of the most delicious, most comic-booky fantasy ever [my review] [iTunes UK] Tracks: romantic in the grandest sense, a visceral and hypnotic experience of idealistic aspirations set against the desolate beauty and danger of the...

X-Men franchise director Bryan Singer, whose first two features debuted at the Sundance Film Festival — including The Usual Suspects in 1995 — was one of the industry figures named to the Sundance juries that will judge this year’s films when the festival begins next week. Singer, who has X-Men: Days of Future Past due in May, will be one of five members of the U.S. Dramatic Jury. Other members of the juries include Tracy Chapman, Lone Scherfig, Leonard Maltin, and screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). A complete list of the juries, courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival, can be viewed after the jump.

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 12 Dec 2013 - 05:49

The year of Baggins, Potter and Spider-Man also had a wealth of lesser-known movies. Here’s our pick of 2002's underappreciated films...

At the top of the box office tree, 2002 was dominated by fantasy and special effects. Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers made almost a billion dollars all by itself, with Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets taking second place and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man not too far behind.

In many ways, 2002 set the tempo for the Hollywood blockbuster landscape, which has changed relatively little in the decade since. A quick look at 2013‘s top 10, for example, reveals a markedly similar mix of superhero movies, with Iron Man 3 still ruling the roost at the time of writing, followed by effects-heavy action flicks and family-friendly animated features.

As usual in these lists, we're looking...

Chicago – Director Lone Scherfig has a rare delicate touch when it comes to portraying the subtlety of human relationships in films. After a triumph in 2009 directing Carey Mulligan in “An Education,” Scherfig returns with Anne Hathaway in the new film “One Day.”

Again, Lone Scherfig is a Danish director guiding an American actor (Hathaway) as a British character (she similarly worked that way with Peter Saarsgard in An Education). Both films feature women in transition having to do with relationships, but in One Day the story is as much about the male lead (Jim Sturgess) as Hathaway’s character.

The title One Day refers to July 15th, the designated day that Emma and Dexter (Hathaway and Sturgess) get together through the years from their college days to middle age. In that interim they experience many stages of their relationship, coming in and out of their coupling in various degrees of importance.

Danish director Lone Scherfig has made good films in the past; see her 2002 suicide comedy Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself for a dark, delicious treat. But the success of her latest, An Education earned her the unprecedented ability to call her own creative shots for the moment, and she.s using it to move some personal projects through the pipeline. Scherfig will direct a Danish historical epic titled Music And Silence. Based on a script by Martin Sherman (Mrs. Henderson Presents), Music adapts Rose Tremain.s award-winning book about the scandalous happenings in Danish King Christian IV.s royal court in the years 1629 and 1630. Screen Daily reports that Scherfig will shoot her production in the early half of 2012, and plans to release the picture in 2013. .This is a unique project,. said Christine Langan of BBC Films, which is co-developing and will co-finance the picture. .Rose.s book is symphonic in...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: HollywoodNews.com’s interview feature, “Hollywood In Ten,” showcases the creative individuals responsible for the movies we love, and corners them for 10 quality minutes.

Poor Mads Mikkelsen. When I told a friend I’d be interviewing the respected Danish actor for his role in the smoldering period romance “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” he replied, “You mean the guy who pegged James Bond in the testicles with a ball of twine?”

And while it’s accurate to say Mikkelsen tortured Daniel Craig’s bound-and-naked secret agent in “Casino Royale,” he also established his presence long before that with critically lauded performances in Susanne Bier’s “After the Wedding” and “Open Hearts,” as well as the dark comedy “Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself.”

In an effort to shake his evil Bond roots, Mikkelsen is burying himself in various projects that test (and show off) his range.

An Education

Directed by: Lone Scherfig

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson

Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: November 26, 2009

Plot: Set in the 1960s in suburban London, this is a coming-of-age story about Jenny (Mulligan). This teenager’s life is changed when a playboy (Sarsgaard) nearly twice her age shows some interest. Screenplay written by author Nick Hornby (”About a Boy,” “High Fidelity”).

Who’S It For? It’s a period piece with a tough topic … there’s a big age difference in this relationship. Those looking for a strong (young) female lead, that may have a chance at an Oscar should make sure they see this film.

Expectations: Peter Sarsgaard has been in a ton of films, but the last one I really liked was Jarhead. I knew nothing about director Lone Scherfig, whose other films are Hjemve and Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself.

Only three women have ever been nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards, but this year alone can boast three more that are in the running: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, the previously-nominated Jane Campion for Bright Star, and Danish director Lone Scherfig. Scherfig has gotten great buzz for her work helming An Education, and while the film's been a great launchpad for star Carey Mulligan, it's also shone a spotlight on Scherfig, who initially gained notice for directing Italian for Beginners and Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself.

Movieline recently caught up with Scherfig to debate several important matters: London vs. Paris, Sundance vs. Berlin, and British food vs...well, actually, there was no debate about British food. It was tough to make a case for it.

Before January, it's possible that only fans of the BBC sci-fi show "Dr. Who" knew who Carey Mulligan was. Thanks to her starring role in An Education , a coming-of-age story set in London of the early '60s, written by novelist Nick Hornby ( About a Boy , High Fidelity ) and directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig ( Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself ), her name and face are going to be everywhere in the coming months. That's because her performance as 16-year-old Jenny in the movie based on the memoir by British journalist Lynn Barber has left everyone who has seen the movie in awe, starting at the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival where it received rave reviews and an Audience Award. Those accolades continued through the fall film festival season as the film...

The Scorecard Review will be there to cover the interviews, movie reviews and red carpet moments of the Chicago International Film Festival in October. Here’s a list of 21 movies that will be a part of the event. We’ll have all the news you’ll need to be ready for the fest right here.

October 8 – 22, 2009

Chicago, September 16, 2009 – Cinema/Chicago is proud to announce another 20 films that will appear at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. From dazzling CGI animation to tales of existential ennui and little white lies gone wrong, The 45th Chicago International Film Festival promises an impressive array of diverse films that will excite cinema fans in Chicago and beyond. Below is a newly released sampling of the 145 films that will be shown at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, which will take place October 8th through the 22nd at the AMC River East 21 Theater (322 E.

I gotta say, I’m not gettin’ that Mike Judge buzz off of anything I’ve seen connected to Extract (opens in the U.S. on September 4; no U.K. date has been announced yet). I see a poster that informs me that this is “a comedy that hits you where it hurts” under a phallic image of a bottle and two walnuts, one of which is broken, which I can only take to mean that this is a movie that believes it has nothing to say to people who don’t have testicles. I see TV ads in which sexually frustrated Jason Bateman complains about his wife, who refuses to have sex with him if he arrives home after 8pm (why would a guy stay married to someone who didn’t want to have sex with him?), but hey, there’s a new tramp at work who’ll surely...

A period-set romantic comedy? Yes, there are buckets of mediocre examples of this particular sub-genre, so many that it would be dead simple to pass over the upcoming An Education but I’m thinking that would be a bad idea. Why? For one, it’s directed by Lone Sherfig who brought us the grossly under-appreciated Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself and Italian For Beginners. For two, it’s written by Nick Hornby - the author of About A Boy and High Fidelity. I’m a raging Hornby fan, so anything this man does is of interest to me. And for three? How about a stellar support cast that includes the likes of Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson? Here’s the synopsis:

It’s 1961 and attractive, bright 16-year-old schoolgirl, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is poised on the brink of womanhood, dreaming of a rarefied, Gauloise-scented existence as she sings along...

“Sydney Film Festival’s Official Competition filmmakers will be well served by this diverse, talented and experienced jury galvanised by the leadership of celebrated Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer,” said Festival Director Clare Stewart. The Jury President, Rolf de Heer (pictured) will be joined by German director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Five Minutes In Heaven, which is screening in this year’s fest, Downfall and, um, Invasion), Canadian director/producer Ted Kotcheff (Wake In Fright, First Blood, and, um, Weekend At Bernie’s), Australian actress Miranda Otto and Danish director Lone Scherfig (Italian For Beginners, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself and An Education which will close out the fest), will form the official judging panel during the festival which runs until the 14th June.

LONDON -- Orlando Bloom has pulled out of Lone Scherfig's An Education because of scheduling clashes just as the movie began rolling, the producers said Monday.

Bloom was replaced by Dominic Cooper (The History Boys) in the movie penned by oft-adapted British novelist Nick Hornby.

Producers have moved quickly to replace Bloom on the film, which began shooting Monday and will be in front of the cameras until May on location in and around London, Oxford and Paris.

Cooper joins a cast already boasting Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, Sally Hawkins and Emma Thompson.

Also signing up for director Scherfig's latest is Cara Seymour, whose credits include The Savages, Hotel Rwanda and Adaptation.

Produced by Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, An Education was developed from an early stage with BBC Films. The film is being financed by James D. Stern's Endgame Entertainment and BBC Films, with Odyssey Entertainment handling worldwide sales.

Scherfig (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself) is directing from Hornby's script based on a piece of memoir by British journalist Lynn Barber.