Jørgen Leth

Lars von Trier, true to form, has a bizarre way of showing his regard for mentor Jørgen Leth whose 1967 short film "The Perfect Human", he claims to have seen 20 times. Von Trier challenges Leth to remake the film following an increasingly difficult set of "obstructions".

Like Life in Denmark, Good and Evil, and Notes on Love, sensible anthropological study is apparently on the programme, and in Leth's award-winning breakthrough it assumes an elegant, highly amusing form. Spanning a period of 22 years these films revolve skittishly around human nature, and apart from the more documentary Life in Denmark, each has actor Claus Nissen as Leth's artful alter ego... (imdb)

The film follows the French Paris-Roubaix spring classic, notorious for the hellish paves or cobbled roads of the north "which are no longer used for traffic but only for transporting cattle - and for cycle races". (imdb)

With a title parallel to the portrait of ballet dancer Peter Martins, this is also a conventional film portrait, this time of football star Michael Laudrup at the height of his career with the F.C. Barcelona dream team. The film follows Laudrup and his team during training and in matches as they successfully defended their Spanish league championship in spring 1993. Laudrup and the team manager Johan Cruyff present their football philosophy. (imdb)

As a visual narrative it is reminiscent of a pile of postcards from a journey, which indeed is what the film is. It consists of a series of lengthy shots of a tableau nature, each appearing to be a more or less random cross section of American reality, but which in total invoke a highly emblematic picture of the USA.

Danish documentarian Jørgen Leth revisits the theme and poetic style of his earlier film "66 Scener Fra Amerika" and finds in the faces, skylines, and roadside attractions of the United States a perfect post-9/11 salute to what makes the country great: not ideologies or flag waving, but eccentricity, idiosyncrasy, and individuality.

A collections of scenes based on documents, letters, pictures and poems that depict a man's erotic nature. (imdb)

Documentary focused on Ole Ritter's attempt at the world hour record in Mexico City, 1974.

A documentary following the 1973 Giro d'Italia bicycle race.

Almost 100 Danes -including a cyclist, a minister of finances, a popular actress and 13 single women from province- try to convey a realistic impression of Denmark, different from the usual view as a little, exotic and strange country. (imdb)

A late 1970s look at Danish ballet star Peter Martins's art and an assessment of what makes him unique and highly lauded on the international stage of ballet. Shot inside the New York City Ballet, the film features Suzanne Farrell, Heather Watts, George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins among other performers and colleagues. (imdb)

Film footage in black and white and colour of some of the best table tennis players in the world has been roughly assembled with no apparent attempt to present clear sequences from matches. Instead the film consists of small studies in medium shots of the playing style of various players and of full shots that enable us to enjoy a few artistic duels in full. As the title indicates the focus is on the Chinese players.

Haiti. Uden title is a kaleidoscopic, dramatic documentary from this chaotic Caribbean country and comprises a mixture of material on video, 16 mm and 35 mm, dating in some scenes right back shooting on Leth's Udenrigskorrespondent (1982). The very lively hand-held video sequences that make up the most recent material make up the bulk of the film and the rapid, fragmentary editing style garnished with neat video tricks, gunfire, etc. put the film at the same level as the Haiti chaos itself.

In 1984 Jørgen Leth, cinematographer Dan Holmberg and sound recordist Niels Torp travelled some 6,000 kilometres by train through China. (imdb)

Stop for Bud is an experimental portrait of the American jazz pianist Bud Powell. The film was shot by a sometimes moving camera in contrast-poor black and white, with a slightly dreamy tone as the celebrated pianist proceeded through Copenhagen locations such as Kongens Have (a park), a dockside and a rubbish dump. (imdb)

An extension of The Perfect Human, Good and Evil is a longer, more expansive pseudo-documentary portrayal of life, no less. (imdb)

About the Nordic spring in a spiritual sense. Ofelia gathers her flowers and her crumbled world in a bouquet of strange and wonderful dream visions. (imdb)