Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director
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 ...
and producer
Peter Aalbæk Jensen
Peter Aalbæk Jensen (born 8 April 1956 in Osted) is a Denmark, Danish film producer who in 1992 with director Lars von Trier founded the Danish film company Zentropa and later its huge studio complex Filmbyen. His father was writer Erik Aalbæk J ...
. Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film ''
Europa'' (1991), which started the collaboration between von Trier and Jensen.
History
It has produced over 70 feature films and has become the largest film production company in Scandinavia. It owns a number of subsidiary companies in Europe.
Zentropa is also responsible for creating a large studio complex called ''
Filmbyen'' (Film City), where both Zentropa and many other film-related companies are located.
Zentropa may be best known for creating the
Dogme 95 movement, leading to such acclaimed films as ''
Idioterne'' (1998), ''
Festen'' (1998) and ''
Mifunes sidste sang'' (1999).
In 1998, von Trier made history by having his company Zentropa to be the world's first mainstream film company to produce
hardcore pornographic film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...
s, under the division
Puzzy Power. Three of these films, ''
Constance'' (1998), ''
Pink Prison
''Pink Prison'' is a 1999 erotic film for women, directed by Danish director Lisbeth Lynghøft, and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa.
As the follow-up to ''Constance (1998 film), Constance'' (1998), it ...
'' (1999), and the adult/mainstream crossover-feature ''
All About Anna'' (2005), were made primarily for a female audience and were extremely successful in Europe, with the first two being directly responsible for the legalising of pornography in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
in March 2006.Zentropa's initiative spearheaded a European wave of female-friendly porn films from directors such as
Anna Span,
Erika Lust and
Petra Joy, while von Trier's company Zentropa was forced to abandon the experiment due to pressure from its English business partners. In July 2009, women's magazine ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
'' ranked ''Pink Prison'' as No. 1 in its Top Five of the best women's porn, calling it the "role model for the new porn-generation".
Sexual harassment allegations
In November 2017, in the wake of the
Me Too movement
#MeToo is a social movement and Consciousness raising, awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was init ...
, nine women – all former employees at Zentropa – spoke of an "ingrained" culture of abuse at the studio. Several of those interviewed said that their treatment had prompted them to stop working in the film industry altogether. Jensen, the company's co-founder, was specifically accused of sexual misconduct and sidelined from operations. An internal memo stated that he would no longer exercise "influence on the daily leadership of the company
ndwill not partake in any management meetings." According to von Trier, Jensen stepped down and passed to Anders Kjaerhauge as CEO of Zentropa when the former's further allegations of harassment came to light.
Selected productions
Subsidiaries
*
EF Rental
EF or ef may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Ef (band), a post-rock band from Sweden
* '' Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two.'', a Japanese adult visual novel series by Minori, or its anime adaptations
Businesses and organizations
* Eagle Forum, a ...
*
Electric Parc
*
Puzzy Power
*
Trust Film Sales
*
Zentropa Real
*
Zentropa Interaction
*
Zentropa Rekorder
*
Zentropa Klippegangen
*
Zentropa International Köln GmbH
*
Zentropa International Poland
* Zentropa International Sweden
Awards
Zentropa won many awards and nominations from local ceremonies including
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...
and
Bodil, as well as two
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for ''
In a Better World'' and
''Another Round'', both were directed by critically acclaimed
Dogme 95-competitors
Susanne Bier and
Thomas Vinterberg.
References
External links
*
* {{DNFc, 107463
Filmbyen official siteZentropa at IMDb
Film production companies of Denmark
Mass media companies based in Copenhagen
Companies based in Hvidovre Municipality
Danish companies established in 1992
Danish film studios
Danish brands
Film distributors
Lars von Trier