| Born 1948 in Denmark |
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| b. 1948. Since the end of the 1980s the film and television director Bille August has to a large extent been instrumental in gaining an international profile for Danish cinema. |
| In his early film and television production, which includes such films as Honningmåne (1978, In My Life) and the television play Maj (1982), August showed himself to be a gifted creator of visual poetry, who can depict family life, women's fates and alienation in the welfare society with deep psychological understanding. |
| In Zappa (1983), Tro, håb og kærlighed (1984, Twist and Shout) and Busters verden (1984, Buster's World), all based on novels by Bjarne Reuter, he explores the conflict- filled and magic world of the youth of the 1960s. |
| Pelle Erobreren (1987, Pelle the Conqueror), based on Martin Andersen Nexø's novel, won both the Golden Palms in Cannes and an Oscar. Here August created both a social historical epic and a beautiful psychological study of a boy and his father. |
| August's international breakthrough was followed by the film and television series Den gode vilje (1991, The Best Intentions) with a script by Ingmar Bergman. This film, too, was awarded the Golden Palms in Cannes. |
| Together with Jerusalem (1996) based on a novel by the swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, these two films form a sort of Nordic epic film-triology. |
| A move towards the international mainstream film however began with the ambitious film version of Isabel Allende's bestseller The House of the Spirits (1993) with a strong international cast, and the just as ambitious film version of Peter Høeg's bestselling thriller Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) to be followed by a new film version of Victor Hugo's immortal story Les Misérables (1998). |
| Ib Bondebjerg, Gyldendal Leksikon |
