Today’s news / Danish entries face tough rivals in Cannes
Trine Dyrholm has one of the leading roles in the feature film "The Girl with the Needle", which has been selected for the main competition at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. (Archive photo). Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Danish entries face tough rivals in Cannes

The prestigious Cannes Film Festival begins Thursday, with Danish films ‘Pigen med nålen’ and ‘The Apprentice’ competing for the Palme d’Or. Film critic Ann Lind Andersen, in Cannes, notes that the inclusion of these Danish films indicates the success of Danish cinema, despite fierce competition from renowned directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Paolo Sorrentino, and David Cronenberg. ‘Pigen med nålen,’ starring Trine Dyrholm as child murderer Dagmar Overbye, is directed by Magnus von Horn. ‘The Apprentice,’ a Danish, Canadian, and Irish co-production directed by Ali Abbasi, features Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump. Despite challenges facing the Danish film industry, Andersen finds the selections encouraging. However, she emphasizes the festival’s unpredictability, citing Lars von Trier’s ‘Dancer in the Dark’ as the last Danish film to win the Palme d’Or in 2000. The festival runs from 14th to 25th May.