Thomas Vinterberg (; born 19 May 1969) is a Danish film director who, along with

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...

, co-founded the

Dogme 95 Dogme 95 (; Danish for "Dogma 95") was a Danish avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" (). These were rules to create films based on the t ...

movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production. He is best known for the films '' The Celebration'' (1998), '' Submarino'' (2010), '' The Hunt'' (2012), '' Far from the Madding Crowd'' (2015), and '' Another Round'' (2020). For ''Another Round'' he was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Director The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibit ...

, the first Danish filmmaker nominated in the Best Director category.

Early life and education

Vinterberg was born in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. In 1993, he graduated from the National Film School of Denmark with ' (''Sidste omgang''), which won the jury and producers' awards at the Internationales Festival der Filmhochschulen München, and First Prize at

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Career

In 1993 Vinterberg made his first TV drama for DR TV and his short fiction film ', produced by at Nimbus Film. The film won awards at the 1994 Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, the International Short Film Festival in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

, and the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

. His first feature film was '' The Biggest Heroes'' (''De Største Helte''), a road movie that received acclaim in his native

. In 1995, Vinterberg formed the

movement with

, Kristian Levring, and

Søren Kragh-Jacobsen Søren Kragh-Jacobsen (; born 2 March 1947, in Copenhagen) is a Danish film director, musician, and songwriter. He was one of the founders and practitioners of the Dogme95 project, for creating films without artificial technology or techniques. ...

. Following that dogma in 1998, he conceived, wrote and directed (and also had a small acting role in) the first of the Dogme movies, '' The Celebration'' (''Festen''). As per the rules of the Dogme manifesto, he did not take a directorial credit. However, he and the film won numerous nominations and awards, including the Jury Prize at the

1998 Cannes Film Festival The 51st Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 1998. American filmmaker Martin Scorsese served as jury president for the main competition. Isabelle Huppert was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. Greek filmmaker Theo A ...

. At the turn of the century, Vinterberg participated in the experimental broadcast ''D-dag'', where he and three other filmmakers directed broadcasts on four different channels, with the viewer able to switch between them and create their own viewing experience. A final edit was released in 2001. In 2003, he directed the apocalyptic science fiction romance-drama '' It's All About Love'', a film he wrote, directed and produced himself over a period of five years. The film was entirely in English and featured, among others,

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix ( ; ; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Widely described as one of the most preeminent actors of his generation and known for Joaquin Phoenix filmography, his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric charact ...

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. Prolific in film and television since her teens, she is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2012, ''Time (magazine), Time'' named he ...

, and

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...

. The movie did not do well, as critics and audiences found it idiosyncratic and somewhat incomprehensible. His next film, the English-language '' Dear Wendy'' (2005), scripted by

, had poor ticket sales in his native Denmark where it sold only 14,521 tickets. However he won the Silver George for Best Director at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival. Vinterberg then tried to retrace his roots with a smaller Danish-language production, '' En mand kommer hjem'' (2007), which also had poor ticket sales in his native Denmark, selling only 31,232 tickets. On 1 August 2008, he directed the music video for " The Day That Never Comes", the first single off

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's album '' Death Magnetic''. His 2010 film '' Submarino'' was nominated for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2012, his film '' The Hunt'' competed for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2013 in film, films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5: ...

. In 2015, he directed '' Far from the Madding Crowd'', an adaptation of the acclaimed

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Literary realism, Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, starring

Carey Mulligan Carey Hannah Mulligan (born 28 May 1985) is a British actress. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. She w ...

Matthias Schoenaerts Matthias Schoenaerts ( , ; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in ''Daens (film), Daens'' (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his rol ...

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

and Tom Sturridge. Vinterberg reunited with

in ''

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

'', a film about the Kursk submarine disaster that happened in 2000. In 2019, Vinterberg lost his daughter Ida in a car accident while she was traveling home from Belgium with her mother. As such, he dedicated '' Another Round'' (''Druk'') to her, while filming much of the film in her school with her classmates. Vinterberg was nominated for the

for the film, which also won the

BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is a film award given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy F ...

and the

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

; he dedicated the latter award to Ida. In 2024 Vinterberg's first foray into directing for TV was broadcast in Denmark. The seven-episode series called '' Families like Ours'' explores a near-future Denmark when the country is gradually evacuated due to

rising sea levels The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

Filmography

Short film

Feature film

Television

Awards and honours

In April 2016, the French government appointed Vinterberg a

Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant c ...

. For his film ''Another Round'' he was nominated for the

and won the

References

External links

*
CNN interview with Thomas Vinterberg
*
Thomas Vinterberg: About a scene by Ingmar Bergman
Video interview by Louisiana Channel, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinterberg, Thomas 1969 births Living people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Danish film producers Danish male screenwriters 21st-century Danish screenwriters Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners European Film Award for Best Screenwriter winners Film directors from Copenhagen People from Frederiksberg