Danish cinema

Cinema of Denmark
The Dagmar Teatret cinema
No. of screens	396 (2011)
• Per capita	7.9 per 100,000 (2011)
Main distributors	SF Film 30.0% Nordisk Film 25.0% Buena Vista 22.0%
Produced feature films (2011)
Fictional	25 (58.1%)
Documentary	18 (41.9%)
Number of admissions (2011)
Total	12,433,000
• Per capita	2.4 (2012)
National films	3,363,000 (27.0%)
Gross box office (2011)
Total	DKK 750 million
National films	DKK 186 million (24.9%)

Denmark has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness and technical innovation.

The Danish filmmaker Carl Th. Dreyer (1889–1968) is considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Other Danish filmmakers of note include Benjamin Christensen, who outside his native country directed several horror classics including Häxan (1922) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929); Erik Balling, the creator of the popular Olsen-banden films; Gabriel Axel, an Oscar-winner for Babette's Feast in 1987; and Bille August, the Oscar-, Palme d'Or- and Golden Globe-winner for Pelle the Conqueror in 1988. In the modern era, notable filmmakers in Denmark include Lars von Trier, who co-created the Dogme film movement, and multiple award-winners Susanne Bier and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Danish cinema pioneer Peter Elfelt, a photographer, was the first Dane to make a film. Between the years of 1896 and 1912, he produced around 200 documentary films on life in Denmark. His first film was Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde (Traveling with Greenlandic Dogs). Furthermore, he produced the first Danish feature film: Henrettelsen (Capital Execution, 1903). The first film show in Denmark took place in the Panorama cinema on the Town Hall square in Copenhagen, in June 1896. However, the selection of films had been made and produced abroad.

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Wikipedia