Astrid Henning-Jensen
| Astrid Henning-Jensen | |
|---|---|
| Born |
10 December 1914 Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Died | 5 January 2002 (aged 87) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Other names | Cora Inez Sheppard |
| Occupation |
Film director Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1941 - 1996 |
Astrid Henning-Jensen (born Astrid Smahl; 10 December 1914 – 5 January 2002) was a Danish film director, actress, editor and screenwriter.
Henning-Jensen was born in the Copenhagen district of Frederiksberg in 1914, to parents Ferdinand Smahl (1887-1950) and Ruth Hanner (1879-1974). She graduated from secondary school (realskole) and began working as an actress in the theatre. She acted from 1935-38 in theatres such as Alléscenen and Riddersalen in Copenhagen. On 10 August 1938, she married Danish film director Bjarne Henning-Jensen.
Her marriage to Bjarne Henning-Jensen was of great importance to her career. She began working as his assistant in 1941 at Nordisk Film. The duo worked together on a number of films as co-directors, co-writers as well as assisting one another on individual projects.
Henning-Jensen worked as a filmmaker in multiple capacities; writing, editing and directing. In her career spanning more than 50 years she made a large number of short films, films for Danish television, documentaries as well as feature films.
In 1981, Henning-Jensen was a member of the jury at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival and, in 1996, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera award at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival
Ditte, Child of Man is a feature film adaptation of Martin Andersen Nexø's novel Ditte Menneskebarn (1921). Henning-Jensen worked on the film as Assistant Director along with her husband. The film marks the international breakthrough of the Henning-Jensen duo. Furthermore, it has been called the film that gave hope to the future of Danish cinema following the second world war, and is in this effect compared to Italian Neorealism.
The film was part of the 2004 Danish Culture Canon (Kulturkanonen), an initiative from then Minister of Culture Brian Mikkelsen, which displays a selection of 108 "cultural works of excellence". The film is also an example of a theme that has been addressed numerous times throughout Henning-Jensen's career: that of childhood. In an article written to present the duo with "the most esteemed Danish children's film prize" (Unibank og Danske Børnefilmklubbers filmpris 1990) they are praised as pioneers of Danish children's cinema. The article views Ditte, Child of Man (1946) as the start of a flourishing tradition, and Those Damned Kids (1947) as the first real Danish children's film. These films—as well as Paw (1959), Early Spring (1986), and a number of Henning-Jensen's other films—deal with the emotional lives of children in a realist fashion. Two major styles are used in the way of portraying children in Henning-Jensen's films: one being that of a humanitarian dichotomy between the welfare of the few and the social impotence of the many, the other of children's drive to play versus lack of opportunities for expression. Another major style is the portrayal of children's imagination free of adult restriction. At the same time, many of these films deal with the importance of security from parents and adults; there needs to be restrictions to dream them away.Ditte, Child of Man is noted as the film where children were given their own voice in Danish cinema for the first time.
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