Copenhagen.Denmark.
Phone: (+45)-20454590
Objectives:
During a 30-day visit, prior, during, and after
the 2003 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, I’d like to create and tell
a light-hearted story about the city of Hot Springs and the festival itself.
In essence, I was so impressed by this beautiful city and all of the passion
surrounding the festival in 2002 that I have been inspired to share the
joy that I experienced.
In order to achieve this goal I would like
to visit Hot Springs for 30 days with my son Oliver Hartz (a young Danish
artist) and my editor Bo Mikkelsen. As a fine
arts artist, Oliver has a very special outlook and perspective on film
and that is why I would like him to conduct ‘special interviews’. He will
also assist in the handling of equipment and any and all other aspects of
the project.
As well as being an ingenious
editor, Bo Mikkelsen speaks fluent English. This will aid in the communications
process and his friendly personality and witty sense of humor will lend
itself to the cheerful spirit of the film. He will also conduct interviews
and everyone will get to enjoy the humor that I cannot live without. Bo
will be responsible for sound and will be editing rushes during the entire
procedure. This will allow us to keep a careful watch on what we produce
and enable us to make changes and adjustments during our stay in Hot Springs.
The most important element of this vision is
to include the citizens of Hot Springs, the City Counsel, HSDFI staff members,
volunteers, filmgoers, etc. I would also like to involve some of the filmmakers
who will be attending the festival and invite them to partake in some of
the filming itself. I’m considering using ten filmmakers I will provide
each of them a recording device. They will have free reign to create and
document their individual perceptions of the festival and the city of Hot
Springs. They can interview other filmmakers and any of the above-mentioned
groups including tourists, film students and local merchants. I am intrigued
by the possibility of collecting the thoughts and ideas of my creative peers
in order to obtain ten different views of the same thing. Each of us has
his/her own individual style and that is what allows for the great endless
variety resulting in the documentaries we see. My intention is to use 30
to 60 seconds of their material and if their footage is used I will be sure
to obtain the proper permissions to do so.
Finally, I’d like to state that I am commited
to utilizing the 10 rules of the Danish Dogme when creating
this piece. The Dogme is a set of ethical guidelines created
by a group of film directors in Copenhagen in 1995. They are as follows:
Necklace - This
film was my final project at The London School of Film Technique (now The
London Film School) and was presented at The Edinburgh and Locarno Film
Festivals. At each of these festivals the film received a diploma,
recognizing my editing. The editing style was unique for that period of
time. This simple film tells the seven-minute story of a housewife waiting
for her husband to return from work.
Vigil –
This is a story about the Druids (in England) celebrating midsummer night
at Stonehenge. A very poetic little film, it set the Druids against the
stones with the rising and setting of the sun. The British Film Institute
selected it to show for 30 days as a supporting program at The National
Film Theatre in London.
Unoder - Another
way of making a musical score. In this five-minute film I painted directly
onto the film material.
The music was composed and played by the noted avant-garde Danish composer,
Niels Viggo Bentzon. He was also a renowned professor at The Royal Danish
Music Conservatory and has since deceased. This film is noted in a Danish
book about experimental films.
Poet -
I am represented by a few of my poems in the book “Poets of Our Times”.
These poems were written in English as a result of my long stay in the United
Kingdom.
Collector - In
1974 I founded The Danish Toy Museum. I left the museum in 1989 to go back
to filmmaking.
Recent
Projects:
1997-1998 – Uffe’s
Rum - A documentary
about a homeless man (Uffe Helles) whom for more than 22 years walked the
streets of Copenhagen. The film is a poetic depiction of Copenhagen with
Uffe as the central character. It was only at the end of the film when I
began to develop a personal relationship with this man. He was extremely
shy because of his mental illness.
1998-1999 - After
a long period of research into Uffe Helles’ life I formed a partnership
with the photographer, Jeno Farkas. It was then that we started to write
a manuscript telling the story of Uffe. We were able to obtain a grant from The Ministry of Social
Welfare and The Ministry of Housing with the rest of the money needed coming
from The Danish Film Institute.
Uffe’s Rum - This
film was used as a discussion theme at the 1999 Global Conference on Mental
Health and Vagrancy held in Copenhagen. Because of this film I was invited to a teacher’s training college in Southern
Denmark to give my opinion on the students’ group exhibitions and papers
on homeless people. This project was part of the students’ final work before
completing college. I was also invited to give talks on the subject of homelessness
at many different venues. Social Security welfare officers were often present
at these talks to get familiar with and understand the tools I used when
foundering relationships with people who were considered unreachable.
1999- 2000 -
Farkas and I began filming what was to become Heaven Above Me,
the follow-up to Uffe’s Rum. Along with six
other people, for a one-year term, I was selected to sit on the editorial
board at the Danish Film Institute’s workshop where I worked as a creative
consultant. The board had to read manuscripts posted to the Danish Film
Institute’s workshop and met once a month to select those considered for
production.
2000-2001 - At
the end of the summer we finished editing Heaven Above Me
and a few weeks afterwards it was shown on national TV. Uffe’s Rum
and Heaven Above Me are currently in distribution and can
be found in public libraries all over Denmark. Heaven Above Me
ends with Uffe moving into his own flat after more than 22 years on park
benches. He is now living a normal happy life. He takes his medicine, paints,
goes to museums, cinemas, and even goes swimming once a week.
2001-2003 - The
Danish Methodist Church approached me and asked if I would be interested
in making a film on Alzheimer’s disease. I accepted the challenge and wound
up completing two films.
Fill My Heart -
This is a film about Ella Degn who is being taken on a journey back to her
childhood and teenage life, and Memories Belong To Myself (recently renamed
to: I Still Remember) tells the story of a training program
in a nursing home in Copenhagen. Both films can be borrowed from public
libraries in Denmark.
References:
