Jørgen Leth
Jørgen Leth is a Danish poet and film director who is considered a leading figure in experimental documentary film making.[1] Most notable are his epic documentary A Sunday in Hell (1977) and his surrealistic short film The Perfect Human (1967). He is also a sports commentator for Danish television and is represented by the film production company, Sunset Productions.
Biography
Born on 14 June 1937 in Århus, Denmark, he studied literature and anthropology in Århus and Copenhagen and was a cultural critic (jazz, theatre, film) for leading Danish newspapers from 1959 to 1968. His interest in Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski had a profound influence on his work. He travelled in Africa (1961), South America and India (1966) and Southeast Asia (1970–71). His first book was published in 1962 and he has written 10 volumes of poetry and eight non-fiction books. He made his first film in 1963 and has since made 40 more, many distributed worldwide. His most acclaimed is a 1967 short, The Perfect Human, which also featured in the 2003 film The Five Obstructions made by Leth and Lars von Trier. Leth's sports documentaries bring an epic, almost mythic, dimension to the field, as seen in Stars and Watercarriers (Stjernerne og Vandbærerne) (1973) and A Sunday in Hell (En forårsdag i helvede) (1977).[2]
He has been a creative consultant for the Danish Film Institute (1971–73, 1975–77) as well as chairman of the Institute's board (1977–82). He has also been a professor at the Danish National Film School in Copenhagen, at the State Studiocenter in Oslo and has lectured at UCLA, Berkeley, Harvard and other American universities.
Leth covered the Tour de France for Denmark's TV 2 from 1988 until 2005 as the expert commentator in partnership with journalist Jørn Mader. In 1999, he was appointed Danish honorary consul in Haiti.
He attracted controversy in Denmark after publication of his autobiography Det uperfekte menneske (The Imperfect Man). It included a graphic account of sexual relations with the 17-year-old daughter of his cook in Haiti.[3] This created a media storm in Denmark,[4] partly because of his plan to make a film called Det Erotiske Menneske ("The Erotic Man"), funded by the Danish Film Institute, in collaboration with DR (Danmarks Radio) and Nordisk Film and TV Commission. The controversy upset several groups in Denmark.[5] In October 2005, due to the controversy, he resigned his post as Danish consul in Haiti and was dismissed as commentator with TV2,[6] but was reappointed in 2009. The film Erotic Man, Leth's homage to his sexual encounters with young women in third world countries, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010. The film received lacklustre reviews which deemed it "dirty-old-man cinema" and colonialist exploitation.[7][8][9]
Leth has had retrospectives at the National Film Theatre, London (1989), in Rouen, France (1990), at the American Film Institute, Washington D.C. (1992), in Mumbai, India (1996), New York (2002), Sao Paulo (2003), Toronto (2004), Florence (2005), Rome (2006), Sao Paulo (2008), Warsaw (2008) and Teheran (2008) and Athens International Film Festival, Athens (2009).
He lived in Jacmel, Haiti from 1991 to 2010 where the Haiti earthquake destroyed his house.
Awards
- 1971 Oberhausen Hauptpreis
- 1972 Thomas Mann Award
- 1983 Danish Academy Special Prize
- 1992 Paul Hammerich Award
- 1995 Drachmann Award for literary oeuvre
- 1996 Danish Film Academy Robert Award
- 1997 Prix de France for cultural reporting from France
- 1999 Danish State Art Foundation Special Award
- 2000 Danish Film Academy Robert Award
- 2004 Grand Prix for Best Feature at Odense International Film Festival
- 2009 Honorary Bodil award for lifetime achievement
- Life-long grant from the Danish state for achievements in filmmaking
Selected bibliography
Two biographies of Leth have been published in Denmark.
- Gult lys (Yellow Light) (1962) – poems
- Kanal (Channel) (1964) – poems
- Lykken i Ingenmandsland (Happiness in No-man’s Land) (1967) – poems
- Sportsdigte (Sports Poems) (1967) – poems
- Glatte hårdtpumpede puder (Smooth, Inflated Cushions) (1969) – poems
- Eventyret om den sædvanlige udsigt (The Adventure of the Usual View) (1971) – radio play
- Det går forbi mig (It Passes Me) (1975) – poems
- Det skete ved Ballerup (It happened near Ballerup) (1975) – short story
- Det er ligesom noget i en drøm. Udvalgte historier om cykelsport 1970-75 (It's like Something in a Dream: Selected Stories about bicycle sport 1970-75) (1976)
- Filmmaskinen. Udvalgte historier om film 1965-78 (The Film Machine. Selected Stories about Films 1965-78) (1979)
- Jeg leger at jeg kan alting. En børnebog (I play that I can do everything. A Children's Book) (1991)
- Hundene gør. Kup i Haiti 1991-94 (The Dogs Bark. Coup in Haiti 1991-94) (1994) – documentary
- Den gule trøje i de høje bjerge (The Yellow Jersey in the High Mountains) 1995 – collection of writings about cycling
- Billeder fra Haiti. Jørgen Leth's collection (Pictures from Haiti – Jørgen Leth's Collection) – catalogue of art
- Billedet forestiller (The Picture Shows) (2000) – poems
- Historier fra Haiti (Stories from Haiti) (2000)
- Samlede digte (Collected Poems) (2002)
- Det uperfekte menneske. Scener fra mit liv (The Imperfect Man. Scenes from My Life) (2005) – memoires
- Det gør ikke noget (It Doesn't Matter) (2006) – poems
- Guldet på havets bund. Det uperfekte menneske/2 (The Gold at the Bottom of the Sea. The Imperfect Human/2) (2007)
- One Day Duke Jordan Disappeared in Harlem (2008) – articles about jazz 1954–66
- The Gifts of Chance (2009) – essays about filmmaking
- Haiti (2010) - documentary
- Trivial Everyday Things: Selected Poems of Jørgen Leth (BookThug, 2011) - translations into English by Martin Aitken
Filmography
Tómas Gislason's award-winning documentary portrait of Leth, "Heart and Soul", was released in 1995.
- Stopforbud, 1963 (14')
- Look Forward to a Bright Future, 1965 (6')
- The Perfect Human, 1967 (13')
- Near Heaven, Near Earth, 1968 (26')
- Ophelia’s Flowers, 1969 (7')
- Motion Picture, 1970 (24')
- The Search, 1970 (35')
- The Deergarden, the Romantic Forest, 1970 (42')
- Chinese Table-tennis, 1970 (12')
- Life in Denmark, 1971 (37')
- Stars and Watercarriers, 1973 (91')
- Klaus Rifbjerg, 1974 (35')
- Good and Evil, 1974 (81')
- A Sunday in Hell, 1977 (110')
- Peter Martins – A Dancer, 1978 (54')
- Kalule, 1979 (45')
- Dancing Bournonville, 1979 (52')
- 66 Scenes from America, 1981 (42')
- Step on Silence, 1981 (58')
- Pelota, 1983 (47')
- Haiti Express, 1983 (93')
- Moments of Play, 1986 (82')
- Notebook from China, 1986 (79')
- Notes on Love, 1989 (90')
- Danish Literature, 1989 (51')
- Traberg, 1992 (93')
- Michael Laudrup – A Football Player, 1993 (58')
- Haiti, Untitled, 1996 (85')
- I'm Alive – Soren Ulrik Thomsen, Poet, 1999 (40')
- Dreamers, 2002 (58')
- New Scenes from America, 2002 (35')
- The Five Obstructions (with Lars von Trier), 2003 (80')
- Aarhus (2005) (35')
- Erotic Man (2010) (90')
Discography
References
- ^ Hjort, Mette & Ib Bondebjerg The Danish Directors, Intellect Books, (2001) 228pg, p58, ISBN 1841508411
- ^ (Hjort 2001, p. 58)
- ^ DR, Jørgen Leth risikerer fængsel i Haiti for sex med mindreårige Danmark Radio Nyheder, Oct. 7 2005
- ^ Schou, Ann-Jette, Jørgen Leth - en provo?, Danmark Radio Nyheder, Aug 17, 2007
- ^ DR, Jørgen Leth trækker sig fra alle poster, Danmark Radio Nyheder, Oct. 7 2005
- ^ (Schou 2007)
- ^ Robert Koehler (2010-09-26). "Erotic Man". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943723.html?categoryId=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- ^ Joshua Rothkopf (2010-09-12). "Toronto: On Hereafter, and aging ungracefully". Time Out New York. http://www3.timeoutny.com/newyork/tonyblog/2010/09/toronto-on-hereafter-and-aging-ungracefully/. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
- ^ Michael Sicinski. "Festival". Cargo. http://www.cargo-film.de/festival/tiff/. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
External links
Persondata |
Name |
Leth, Jorgen |
Alternative names |
|
Short description |
Poet, film director |
Date of birth |
14 June 1937 |
Place of birth |
Aarhus, Denmark |
Date of death |
|
Place of death |
|