Henning Carlsen facts for kids

Henning Carlsen (born June 4, 1927 – died May 30, 2014) was a Danish film director, writer, and producer. He was best known for his documentaries and for using a film style called cinéma vérité. This style tries to show real life as it happens, almost like a documentary.

Carlsen's 1966 drama Hunger (Sult) was a very important film. It was nominated for a big award called the Palme d'Or and won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film. He also won the Bodil Award the next year for his comedy People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart. Carlsen produced his own films starting in 1960. He directed more than 25 movies and wrote the scripts for 19 of them. In 2006, he received a special award for his lifetime work at the Copenhagen International Film Festival.

Early Life and Start in Film

Henning Carlsen was born in Aalborg, Denmark, on June 4, 1927. In 1948, when he was 21, Carlsen became an assistant director at a company called Minerva Film. This is where he learned how to make movies by working on real projects. He stayed at Minerva until 1953, then moved to another film company called Nordisk Film.

Making Movies: Documentaries and Real Stories

Carlsen started his career by writing and directing short documentaries and films for industries. This experience helped him become very good at the cinéma vérité style. This film style focuses on showing real life without actors or scripts, like a fly on the wall.

He made a famous group of three documentaries:

• De Gamle (The Elderly) in 1961
• Familiebilleder (Family Pictures) in 1964
• Ung (Youth) in 1965

These films showed what Denmark was like in the 1960s. They captured how the country was changing into a modern society that cared for its people. Carlsen was especially praised for how he edited De Gamle. He used a special rhythm that showed the lives of older people beautifully, without needing any spoken comments.

Powerful Dramas: Dilemma and Hunger

In 1962, Carlsen made his first full-length movie, a serious drama called Dilemma. It was also made in the cinéma vérité style. The movie was based on a book about apartheid, which was a time in South Africa when people were treated unfairly because of their race. Carlsen filmed Dilemma secretly in South Africa using a hidden camera.

His next big film was the 1966 drama Hunger (Sult). This movie was based on a book by the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun. Hunger showed a very tough life of poverty and sadness. It is considered a masterpiece of "social realism," meaning it shows real social problems. This film is so important that it's one of the ten films listed in Denmark's cultural canon by the Danish Ministry of Culture. Carlsen was nominated for the Palme d'Or award and won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film for Hunger.

Changing Gears: Comedies and Other Films

The year after Hunger, Carlsen made a different kind of movie: a comedy called People Meet and Sweet Music Fills the Heart. He won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film again for this movie.

Throughout his career, Carlsen also enjoyed making popular comedies. Some of these include Oh, to Be on the Bandwagon! and I Wonder Who's Kissing You Now?. In 1967, he returned to the serious style of Hunger with the drama We are All Demons.

In 1986, Carlsen directed an international film called Wolf at the Door, which starred the famous actor Donald Sutherland. During his career, Carlsen wrote 19 films and directed 21. He also directed plays for the theater and shows for television. Since 1966, Carlsen taught at the National Film School in Denmark and was part of its advisory team. In 2006, he received a special Golden Swan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Copenhagen Film Festival. In 2012, Carlsen received an honorary Robert Award for all his amazing work in film.

Books by Carlsen

Henning Carlsen wrote two books:

• Mit livs fortrængninger (which means My Life's Forgettings in English) is his autobiography. It was published in 1998 in Danish.
• Flyvske billeder (meaning Images in Flight) is a book about how film and flight developed over time, from a human perspective.

Personal Life

Henning Carlsen was married twice. His first wife was Hjørdis Wirth Jensen. In 1975, he married Else Heidary, who was a film consultant. Henning Carlsen passed away on May 30, 2014, at the age of 86.

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Henning Carlsen para niños