Latest news with #ThomasVinterberg
ABC News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Families Like Ours / Smoke / The Story of Souleymane
Acclaimed director Thomas Vinterberg (Festen, Another Round) on his 7-part series Families Like Ours, which is set in a hypothetical near future where global warming has led to the imminent flooding of Denmark. Director Boris Lojkine and actor Abou Sangaré discuss Cannes Un Certain Regard winner The Story of Souleymane, a deeply empathetic drama that follows a food delivery courier through the streets of Paris as he prepares for his asylum application interview. Black Bird writer Dennis Lehane and actor Taron Egerton on Smoke, a gripping new Apple TV+ series about serial arsonists.
SBS Australia
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
When an entire country is evacuated: the unthinkable is reality in 'Families Like Ours'
What would happen if a seemingly stable country faced the prospect of having to evacuate all of its citizens? In seven-part series Families Like Ours , that's the situation facing Denmark in a not-too-distant future. Rising water levels as a result of climate change have reached the point where there is only one, previously unthinkable, option. The entire country must be evacuated. Property becomes worthless. Some citizens can afford to travel to affluent countries but others will have to depend on government-funded relocation to other destinations. Families and friends are torn apart. Who will struggle and who will find a way to make a new beginning? "What would happen to people from my own life? Who would fit into my 'lifeboat'? Where would we go?," says Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (whose stellar CV includes The Hunt , Far from the Madding Crowd , and the film for which he won an Academy Award, Another Round ) of the thoughts this scenario provoked. "What if our country as we know it was to be evacuated? If, slowly but steadily, the population of our well-functioning civilised society was to be divided in two: those who can finance their own fare and those who depend on welfare. What would happen to ourselves and our families? What would it feel like to be refugees on the outside? How would we cope? If it was our turn to say goodbye to all we know and take for granted? How strong is our love for the homeland once we are forced to leave it? How strong is our solidarity?" Difference choices, different experiences At the centre of Families Like Ours is Laura (Amaryllis August, making an impressive acting debut), a happy, intelligent high school student from a wealthy Copenhagen suburb. She lives half the time with her mother Fanny (Paprika Steen) and half with her father Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and his new wife Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann). At school, there's a flirtation with fellow student Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt). As the news of the evacuation spreads, others also face hard choices as the nation prepares to leave, including Fanny's brother Holger (Thomas Bo Larsen), Nikolaj (Esben Smed) the deputy head of the Migration office at the Ministry of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his partner Henrik (Magnus Millang) and Henrik's brother Peter ( Prisoner star David Dencik). (L-R) Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann), Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt), Laura (Amaryllis August), Fanny (Paprika Steen), Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Nikolaj (Esben Smed) gathered for a family meeting. Credit: Per Arnesen / Zentropa Entertainments " Families Like Ours is, in all modesty, meant to be an epic family saga inspired by the great European stories of emigration," Vinterberg says. "The story is set in a reality that much resembles our own ...In focusing deeply on individual characters, the world feels huge, irrational, and wonderful all at the same time. Families are shattered to pieces and new lives emerge. Love blooms as unexpected reunions and reconciliations take place. "Resonance is important. The close psychological drama is important. It is not a tale of disaster or of nature's revenge on mankind, but an examination of human themes: farewells, separation, and survival. ... At worst, a look into the future. At best, an expression of our shared fears and reflections of what we all want to hold on to." Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) walks with Bartek (Stanislaw Linowski) in 'Families Like Ours'. Credit: Julie Vrabelova / Zentropa Entertainments The idea came to him in late 2018. 'It was a Sunday and I was bored,' he says. 'I was missing my family, thinking about my children and their generation and the world they're growing up in – their perception of it and their sense of responsibility for all of it. Then this thought experiment began.' As he considered the rapidly changing planet, contending with drought, hurricanes, floods, he started to wonder what today's teenagers might encounter in their lifetimes. Then the premise of the show struck him. 'What would happen if we had to evacuate our country?' Vinterberg's home country, Denmark, has been experiencing higher levels of rain in recent years. He pondered what could happen if that rain didn't stop, if the flooding got so bad that it never went away. How long could people continue to live there? As he did some preliminary writing with Bo Hr, Hansen, the pair realised the story was too big for a film, which lead to Vinterberg taking on his first television project. I couldn't fit it into a feature film. I thought now was the chance to try television. 'I've definitely considered television before,' Vinterberg says. 'When I made my film Festen , I remember the sort of sad feeling of ending the shoot with all these characters and actors – this family that I'd really enjoyed spending time with. I had a lot more to tell about them. That's when I first felt a desire to make a TV series. I wanted to further unfold this slice of life we'd made.' He laughs. 'Then a lot of years went by and a lot of films happened.' As he thought about the characters in his plan for Families Like Ours , 'I couldn't fit it into a feature film. I thought now was the chance to try television.' Laura (Amaryllis August) with her mother Fanny (Paprika Steen). Credit: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen / Zentropa Entertainments A story across borders The international nature of Families Like Ours took Vinterberg and his cast and crew to five different countries, for a shoot that lasted almost a year. When the people of Denmark are told they're going to be evacuated, those with money and connections are able to pick and choose where they go, but many are sent to Romania to live with strangers in crowded rooms. As the show's characters are split, trying to find new homes as comfortable as those they left behind (and rarely succeeding), the action travels across Europe. Shooting took place in Denmark, Romania, France, Sweden and the Czech Republic (the UK and Poland are also depicted but were not shooting locations). 'It was a constant learning process and a very humbling one,' says Vinterberg. 'You have to come from a very curious place and do lots of research. You don't want to do an outsider's version of showing these places.' Events take characters to Paris, where they experience both the most luxurious side of the city and the polar opposite; and sequences in Poland where deserted towns and stern military are encountered. 'How do you properly dig into Parisian life? What does a shabby Parisian hotel look like? And when you meet Polish soldiers, what would they be like? How would they behave with a young refugee? There was so much research.' Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann) arrive in Paris. Credit: Manuel Clkaro / Zentropa Entertainements The series includes some of the largest scale sequences Vinterberg has ever directed. One breathtaking scene has Laura desperately racing through the streets of Copenhagen to get to her mother. The city is overwhelmed by thousands of citizens trying to escape, and people protesting against the evacuation. Another takes place on the dock next to a huge refugee ship transporting countless refugees to a new life overseas. The scale didn't faze Vinterberg. 'I have to say, it's a lot harder making a small movie,' he says. 'On a huge production day, with lots of extras and all sorts of stuff going on, there are a lot of people there to help you do your job. On a small film you basically have to do everything yourself, so in some ways working on a large scale is easier.' The challenge was in maintaining the intimacy of his narrative on a bigger canvas. 'The thing I'm always focused on is how the story comes through. Even when there is a lot going on around the character, it has to still be all about the character and what they're experiencing.' Even after all these years, every film shoot is nerve-wracking ...There's always fear. Part of the reason none of the scale, or globe-hopping, intimidated Vinterberg is because this is the part of filmmaking he loves: the leap into the unknown and figuring out things that initially seem impossible. 'Even after all these years, every film shoot is nerve-wracking,' he says. 'There's always fear. Will I achieve my ambitions? Will I get everything we need on the day? There are always obstacles and always worries, but you surround yourself with great people, you shoot, and you get creative. There are times when you think your head is going to explode from all the decisions, but you find ways over every obstacle, you make decisions in the moment that suddenly make everything better. You find new moments you could never have planned for. " Paprika Steen in 'Families Like Ours'. Credit: Per Arnesen / Zentropa Entertainments Hope, always As much as this is a story of incredible drama and people living through unthinkable horrors, it is also about hope and compassion. Vinterberg seeks to ask questions about different relationships. How do we behave as communities and nations when other people are facing disaster, and how far can our family bonds stretch? 'I didn't start this as an environmental shout-out,' says Vinterberg. 'This is about asking existential questions. What happens if only a finite number of people can fit in the lifeboat? Who will you allow in? And what happens to those of us from privileged Western societies when we become the refugees? This isn't about being political. It's about what's happening to all of us.' 'This story is a lot about love," he says. "...'But I think the main theme of it, which only came through while I was working on it, is that this is about resilience. Human beings have an incredible ability to adapt, even in the worst circumstances. I think there's such dignity in that. And hope. In resilience there is hope.' This is an edited version of material supplied by Zentropa Entertainments / Studiocanal. Families Like Ours is streaming at SBS On Demand. Stream free On Demand Families Like Ours series • drama • Danish MA15+ series • drama • Danish MA15+ Thomas Vinterberg's award-winning film Another Round is also streaming at SBS On Demand.
New York Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Families Like Ours' Review: Emptying Denmark
The mini-series 'Families Like Ours' on Netflix has an attention-grabbing premise: An entire country, Denmark, decides to shut itself down before climate change can do the job for it. Six million Danes start looking for new homes. Relocation plans are drawn up with Scandinavian efficiency, but European neighbors look upon waves of relatively well-off white refugees with the same distaste they show for Africans and Middle Easterners. The seven-episode series is the first from the Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, known for founding the no-frills Dogme 95 movement with Lars von Trier and, 26 years later, being nominated for a best director Oscar for 'Another Round,' which won best international feature in 2021. The handsomely appointed 'Families Like Ours,' which Vinterberg wrote, with Bo Hr. Hansen, and directed, breaks just about every rule in the Dogme manifesto, as his films have all along. It is a high-class consumer item, deliberate and hushed. It does, however, have something in common with his one true Dogme film, 'The Celebration' from 1998. It subjects an extended Danish family to pressure and traces the fissures of guilt and dependency, the outbreaks of bad behavior and gallantry, that result. 'The Celebration,' released when Vinterberg was 29, did this via transgressive, occasionally puerile black humor; 'Families Like Ours' offers restrained, tasteful domestic drama. The contrast is startling, but the underlying satisfactions are similar. The new series (it premiered Tuesday on Netflix) will be categorized as a climate-change drama, and it is that. The story appears to take place in an unspecified but near future when waters have risen and efforts to hold them back have met with varying success. But the evidence of danger is mostly offscreen; the crisis is suggested through newscasts and ominous puddles. Vinterberg imagines that the climate crisis will arrive not in floods and heat but in bureaucracy and confusion — endless lines, indecipherable rules, arduous journeys, a constant assault on hope. His vision may not be easily dramatic, but it is convincing. (The overall premise is a more difficult sell. Would the Danes, as disciplined and regimented as they might be, really leave their country as obediently as the series portrays? Wouldn't many congregate on high ground and fight to stay? The show's failure to take on that possibility is a problem.) The show is also defined, in part, by the obvious reversal it plays on our expectations for stories about refugees. It is formerly comfortable white people who are standing in the lines, yelling across bank counters and nakedly pleading for handouts and favors. They are shocked by the conditions they face once they make it to Paris or Bucharest. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Tom's Guide
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Netflix just added a new dystopian drama — and it's already 100% on Rotten Tomatoes
When looking through everything new on Netflix this week, one of the shows that caught my eye was "Families like Ours." This Danish dystopian drama miniseries comes from the mind of Academy Award-nominated director Thomas Vinterberg ("Another Round"), who wrote and directed all seven episodes. The show is set in a near-future Denmark where rising sea levels have caused the Danes to abandon their homeland. But while the impending doom of the story certainly plays a role, the show is more focused on how the mass exodus impacts those forced to leave — and those who choose to stay behind. While the drama series is new to Netflix this week, it debuted at the Venice International Film Festival last year and then first aired in its native Denmark later that same year. That means we already have some critical reviews, and they're so far very positive — a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. So here's everything you need to know about "Families like Ours," and why it needs to be the show you start binge-watching right now. As I already mentioned, "Families Like Ours" is set in a near-future world where rising sea levels force the Danish government to announce a mass evacuation. This decision causes a catastrophic domino effect. Property becomes worthless, which tanks the wealth of the Danish people. Those who still have wealth can sometimes secure their evacuations to the countries of their choosing, but others must take part in a government-funded relocation process that can tear families apart. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. One such family is Laura's (Amaryllis August), whose family is being torn apart as her mother (Paprika Steen) goes to one place, her father (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) to another and her boyfriend, Elías (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt), goes to yet another location. Now Laura has to choose which path she'll take for herself. There aren't a ton of critics' reviews for "Families like Ours" yet, but those that have come in are all positive, albeit while highlighting some of the show's shortcomings. "Fascinating and infuriating in equal measure and ultimately oddly moving, for all its flaws," wrote Keith Watson for The Telegraph (UK). "'Families Like Ours' pulls you into its emotional slipstream and won't let go." Lucy Mangan had a similarly positive review, with some caveats. "There is much to admire," she wrote. "It doesn't preach, it does have the themes work through the characters instead of the other way round (and has a cast stuffed with Danish heavyweights to help it). But it all feels a bit thin, a bit bloodless – like a thought experiment made flesh rather than a compelling, provocative drama." By all accounts, "Families like Ours" won't suddenly become the next "Adolescence" for Netflix. But it also seems like everyone who has watched it has given it a positive review. Even better, as a seven-part miniseries, you're getting a complete story that you could finish over a week or even on a lazy weekend day. So, yes, go ahead and hit play on this Danish drama next time you log onto the streaming service. It definitely seems to be worth a watch. Stream "Families like Ours" now on Netflix Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made. Here's what he's been watching lately:
The Hindu
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Cannes 2025: Filmmakers launch Dogma 25 to rewrite rules of filmmaking in the internet age
Thirty years after Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg launched the Danish avant-garde filmmaking movement Dogme 95, a group of filmmakers from Sweden and Denmark have vowed to revive the movement at this year's Cannes Film Festival under the name Dogma 25. The participants in the latest iteration of the movement promise five films among themselves each year, and they intend to make these without using the internet in the creative process. 'In a world where film is based on algorithms and artificial visual expressions are gaining traction, it's our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct and human imprint,' said the five filmmakers in a statement. Founded by Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, the participants — Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklof, and Jesper Just — are calling the movement 'a rescue mission and a cultural uprising.' They have given themselves one year to create a movie. 'After Covid, all prices have gone up and we get less film for the same amount of money. That's a huge problem for the arthouse film, because the risk-taking is gone. All mainstream stands on the shoulders of arthouse, and if the arthouse dies completely, there will be no originality left in the mainstream,' said director Toukhy. Though the movement has taken inspiration from the 1995 manifesto of Dogma 95, it has only retained one rule from the original, which is that any film that is a part of the movement must be shot where the narrative takes place. Other rules that are binding on the participants include accepting funding only if no content-altering conditions are attached to it and not having more than 10 people behind the camera. It is also essential for a Dogma 25 film to be without dialogue for half of its runtime, as the participants claim that they believe in visual storytelling and that they have faith in the audience. They are also steering away from using make-up or attempts to manipulate faces and bodies of actors cast in the film. The movement is open to accepting more members and it also already received endorsement from Von Trier and Vinterberg.
