Nils Malmros facts for kids

Nils Malmros (born in 1944) is a famous Danish film director and writer. He is known for making realistic movies, especially about growing up. Malmros often shows the challenges of being a teenager and losing your childhood innocence. He gets many ideas from his own experiences growing up in Århus, Denmark.

His most well-known films are a group of three movies about kids in school in Århus during the 1950s. These are Lars-Ole 5c, Boys, and Tree of Knowledge. The film Tree of Knowledge (made in 1981) is so important that it's one of only ten films listed in Denmark's cultural canon by the Danish Ministry of Culture. This means it's considered a very important part of Danish culture.

Nils Malmros taught himself how to make films. But he also trained to be a surgeon! In his movie Facing the Truth, he even performed all the brain surgery scenes himself to make them look real. Malmros has won many awards, including the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film four times and the Robert Award for Danish Film of the Year three times.

His Early Life and Becoming a Filmmaker

Nils Sigurd Malmros was born on October 5, 1944, in Århus, Denmark. His father, Richard Malmros, was a professor who specialized in brain surgery at University of Aarhus. When Nils was young, he first wanted to design furniture. He tried to get into architecture school, but he wasn't accepted.

Instead, Nils decided to study medicine, just like his father. He started in 1965. However, after watching a movie called Jules and Jim by François Truffaut and reading about films, Malmros felt inspired to try making movies. Even though he started making films, he still finished his medical training. He graduated from Århus University medical school in 1988. This was after 23 years of studying and after he had already made five feature films!

Making His First Movies

In 1968, Nils Malmros used his own money and asked his friends to act in his very first film. It was called A Strange Romance. This movie was about young people in Århus and their problems and deep discussions. It was shown in a theater in Copenhagen, but not many people noticed it. When it opened in Århus, critics said it was not very good and copied other filmmakers. Malmros was upset, but he decided to keep going and make his next movie: Lars-Ole, 5c.

In 1969, Malmros tried to get money from the Danish Film Fund for Lars-Ole, 5c, but they said no. They didn't think a movie about children was worth supporting. So, Malmros paid for the movie himself again. The film was about the life of a fifth-grade schoolboy. Malmros filmed it at the Finsensgades Skole in Århus, which was his old school. He saved money by using children from the school as actors.

In 1971, he asked for help to make the film better quality, but he was refused again. When the movie finally came out in 1973, critics loved it! They called it "a little film miracle." The way the Danish Film Fund treated Malmros became a big topic, even discussed in the Danish parliament. Because of this, the Film Fund was closed down and replaced by the Danish Film Institute. In 1974, the new institute gave Malmros money as a settlement. In August of that year, Malmros won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film for Lars-Ole, 5c.

His Famous Films and Career

Because Lars-Ole, 5c was so successful, Malmros was able to make his first professional film. It was called Boys and came out in 1977. In 1978, Malmros won his second Bodil Award for Best Danish Film for it.

Stories About Growing Up

In 1981, Malmros released the third film in his series about schoolchildren: Tree of Knowledge. Like his earlier films, this one looked at the lives of Danish students in Århus during the 1950s. This time, the story followed 17 teenagers over two years. Malmros filmed at his old school, Århus Katedralskole. He took two years to film the movie so that the actors would really grow and change, just like their characters. The film was highly praised and is now one of the top 100 Danish films. It's also one of the ten films in Denmark's cultural canon.

In 2009, Malmros made another movie about growing up called Aching Hearts. He filmed it over three years with teenagers in Viborg. This movie used similar filming ideas and themes as his earlier film Tree of Knowledge.

Other Important Films

Malmros made Beauty and the Beast in 1983. This film shows the difficulties between a father and his daughter as she starts having relationships with boys. In 1984, Malmros won his third Bodil Award for Best Danish Film for this movie. It also won the new Robert Award for Danish Film of the Year.

He then made Århus by Night in 1989. This film was inspired by Malmros' own experiences while making Boys. Many of the characters were based on real people from that earlier film. During filming, some people criticized Malmros for using actors who weren't professionals. Malmros even changed the ending of the movie just a week before it officially came out, after a critic didn't like it.

In 1992, Malmros made a different kind of movie, a sad drama called Pain of Love. Instead of his usual sweet look at childhood, this film tells a beautiful but difficult story about a young college student. Her small problems at school and in relationships lead her to feel very sad. The film won both the Bodil and Robert awards in 1993 for Best Danish Film.

Malmros' film Barbara (1997) was based on a classic Danish book. It takes place in the Faroe Islands. For his 2002 film, Facing the Truth, Malmros went back to his own life story. This movie is partly about his father, who was a pioneer in brain surgery. The film looks like a black-and-white documentary and shows the challenges a young brain surgeon faces during a difficult situation at work. To make the film very realistic, Malmros used his own surgical background and performed all the brain surgery scenes himself! The film won the 2003 Danish Film Academy's Robert Award for Film of the Year.

His Personal Life

Nils Malmros married Marianne Tromholt, a school teacher, on June 5, 1982. They have lived in their home in Højbjerg for many years.

Films by Nils Malmros

Awards and Recognition

• Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Best Danish Film, for Lars-Ole 5c, 1974
• Krebs' School Award, 1975
• Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Best Danish Film, for Boys, 1977
• Preben Franks Memorial Award, 1982
• Gjest Baardsen Award, Oslo, 1982
• Audience Prize of the "Lübecker Nachrichten", Lübeck Nordic Film Days, for Tree of Knowledge, 1982
• Niels Matthiasen's Memorial Award, 1983
• Albertslunds Cultural Fond's Honorary Award, 1983
• Danish Film Academy Robert Awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay for Beauty and the Beast, 1984
• Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Best Danish Film, for Beauty and the Beast, 1984
• Otto Rungs Authors Award, 1990
• Danish Playwrights Guild (Danske Dramatikere) Honors Award, 1993
• Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Best Film for Pain of Love, 1993
• Danish Film Academy Robert Award for Best Film, for Pain of Love, 1993
• National Art Council's Lifetime Award, 1995
• Danish Film Academy Robert Award for Best Film, and Rouen Nordic Film Festival Audience Award, for Barbara, 1998
• Hartmann Award, 1998