Nils Malmros facts for kids

Nils Malmros, born in 1944, is a famous Danish film director and writer. He is known for his realistic movies that often explore what it's like to grow up and face challenges. Many of his films are inspired by his own childhood experiences in Århus, Denmark.

His most well-known films are a group of three movies about schoolchildren 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 listed as one of Denmark's top cultural works by the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Even though he became a filmmaker, Nils Malmros actually trained to be a surgeon. In his movie Facing the Truth, he even performed the brain surgery scenes himself to make them look real! He has won many important awards for his films, including the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film four times and the Robert Award three times.

Early Life and Medical Studies

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 the University of Aarhus.

When he was younger, Nils first wanted to design furniture. He tried to get into architecture school but wasn't accepted. So, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and began studying medicine in 1965.

However, after watching a French film called Jules and Jim and reading about it, Nils became very interested in making movies. Even with his new passion, he still finished his medical studies. He graduated from Århus University medical school in 1988, which was 23 years after he started and after he had already made five feature films!

First Movies

In 1968, Nils Malmros used his own money and asked his friends to act in his first movie. He wrote and directed this film, called A Strange Romance. It was about young people in Århus discussing their problems and ideas. The movie was shown in Copenhagen but didn't get much attention. When it opened in Århus, critics said it seemed like an amateur film and too much like other movies. Nils was disappointed but decided to make another movie.

In 1969, Nils tried to get money from the Danish Film Fund for his next project, Lars-Ole, 5c. He asked for help with writing the script and later for making the film. Both times, he was turned down because the Film Fund didn't want to support what they called a "children's movie."

So, Nils paid for the movie himself again. Lars-Ole, 5c was about the social life of a fifth-grade schoolboy. Nils filmed it at Finsensgades Skole in Århus, where he used to go to school. He saved money by using real children from the school as actors. In 1971, he asked for money to make the film better quality, but he was refused again.

When the movie premiered in 1973, critics loved it and called it "a little film miracle." The way the Danish Film Fund treated Nils 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 Film Institute gave Nils 335,000 Danish kroner. In August of that year, Nils won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film for Lars-Ole, 5c.

Professional Career

The success of Lars-Ole, 5c allowed Nils Malmros to make his first professional film, Boys, in 1977. Again, Nils used his own childhood experiences to tell the story. This movie was about a schoolboy in Århus and how he grew up, from being a child to a teenager and then a young man. In 1978, Nils won his second Bodil Award for Best Danish Film for Boys.

In 1981, Malmros released the third film in his trilogy: Tree of Knowledge. Like his earlier films, this movie looked at the lives of Danish schoolchildren in Århus during the 1950s. This time, the story followed 17 young teenagers over two years. Nils filmed at Århus Katedralskole, his old school. He took two years to film the movie so that the actors would naturally 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 part of Denmark's cultural canon.

In 1983, Malmros made Beauty and the Beast. This film showed the difficulties between a father and his daughter as she started having relationships with boys. In 1984, Nils 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 his experiences while making Boys. Many characters in the movie were based on people involved in that earlier film. During filming, some people criticized Nils for using amateur actors. He showed a preview of the movie, and some reviewers didn't like the ending. Nils actually changed the ending of the film a week before its official release, making it 5 minutes shorter. The film received good, but not overly excited, reviews.

In 1992, Nils Malmros tried a different kind of story with the dramatic film Pain of Love. This movie was different from his usual sentimental stories about childhood. It told a sad story about a young college student whose small problems in school and relationships led her to a very difficult path. The film won both the Bodil and Robert awards for Best Danish Film in 1993. The main actors also won awards for their roles.

For his next film, Barbara (1997), Nils chose a story that wasn't from his own childhood. It was based on a classic Danish book set in the Faroe Islands. The movie was about a minister who falls in love with a woman who has many relationships. It won an audience award at a film festival and the 1998 Robert Award for Best Film.

In 2002, Nils returned to his personal experiences with Facing the Truth. This film was partly based on his father, who was a pioneer in brain surgery. The movie was filmed in black-and-white, like a documentary. It showed the challenges a young brain surgeon faced during a medical lawsuit. Nils, who is also a surgeon, performed all the brain surgery scenes himself to make them look very real. The film was nominated for the Bodil Award and won the Robert Award for Film of the Year in 2003.

In 2009, Malmros released another coming-of-age story called Aching Hearts. He filmed this movie over three years with teenagers in Viborg, Denmark. It used similar filming techniques and themes as his earlier film Tree of Knowledge.

In 2013, Nils Malmros wrote and directed Sorrow and Joy. This film was about a very sad event in his own life, where his wife tragically killed their 9-month-old daughter. The movie was chosen to represent Denmark at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film but was not nominated.

Personal Life

Nils Malmros married Marianne Tromholt, a school teacher, on June 5, 1982. Marianne has a health condition called bipolar disorder. In 1984, while she was visiting home from a hospital and not taking her medication, Marianne tragically killed their 9-month-old daughter.

Marianne received 18 months of hospital treatment. After this, Nils helped her get released. She later returned to teaching because the parents of her students asked her to. She stopped teaching in 2012, before Nils's 2013 film Sorrow and Joy, which tells the story of this tragic event, was released.

As of 2024, Nils Malmros and Marianne Tromholt have lived in their home in Højbjerg for 42 years.

Filmography

Awards

• 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