Thomas Vinterberg: “Danish cinema is in a vulnerable state”

Submarino, the social drama that screened in official competition at the last Berlinale opened yesterday in Denmark, released by Sandrew Metronome. The film was produced by Nimbus Film, with support among others, from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. The director spoke to us about how he enjoyed going back to the simpler filmmaking of his earlier days and about the current state of Danish cinema.

Submarino was produced by Nimbus with backing from TV2 Denmark on the condition that 50% of the cast and crew were first timers. How was that experience?
The very limited budget gave me very little time, so I had to make fast decisions. I decided to stay simple, and throughout the making of the film, we tried to make it as clean and pure as possible. Regarding first time actors and crew members, I liked that idea and thought it was a great opportunity. That eagerness, energy, full-hearted devotedness from people who start a career was amazing. I had been missing this from when I did my graduation film at the Danish Film School, prior to Dogma.

How did you work with the actors if you had so little time during shooting?
We had some time before shooting. I did a lot of rehearsal and research with the writer. In a way we tried to tear down the barriers between ‘us' and ‘them' (the socially deprived brothers in the film). Jakob Cedergren (who plays Nick) went out and stayed with ex cons. I stayed in the hostel where we shot the film. I called an old class mate who had used heroin for 20 years. I said how do you do it? Why? Show me where they do it? How much does it cost? He stopped three years ago and was capable to take me through the process. So there was a lot of curiosity, almost attraction towards that environment. As filmmakers, curiosity is our main gasoline.

Submarino refers to a torture technique, but aren't the two brothers in the film tortured by society?
This is a movie about two brothers trying to reach the surface, escape from their fate given by society, their mother. I was struck by two things when reading the book: the brotherhood and the fatherhood. As parents, we fear not being able to care for our children. At the time, I was alone with my kids for the first time which is why this story had such a strong impact on me. Plus with modern families, even though there is no incident between family members, life seems to make you float away from each other. In the film, the brothers are separated by life and even by the structure of the film. When they find each other, it may be too late.

Did you enjoy making a film in your mother tongue after having shot several films in the English language?
Language doesn't matter to me. What matters is what country you're writing for. English is universal. I've worked in Danish. I work in German now on a theatre play in Austria. It was great going back to the Danish language I used at film school.

Is the Dogma concept dead?
It's completely dead...until someone makes a new Dogma film. In my mind it's completely over. It was a revolt against something. It became a fashion and thereby died. In Denmark in the late 90s, you could find Dogma furniture. Now it's old fashioned.

There seems to be a crisis in Denmark where local films don't perform as well as they used to. What's your opinion?

You can discuss if the crisis is with Danish films or Danish audience. After having been very strong in the 90s, self sufficient, and even arrogant, Danish cinema is now in a vulnerable state. It's always like that. My career is like that. But from where I am, it's more interesting. You have good Danish filmmakers, fumbling a bit in the darkness, investigating, exploring and finding new ways to go. This is interesting, but this is also where we need support, where we feel weaker. Danish cinema is trying to re-define itself.