There’s a city-wide film festival for fiction films, CPH:PIX, for documentaries, CPH:DOX, and there’s also a festival exclusively for children and youth films: BUSTER. It’s an international festival that attracts a large audience while also creating a forum for film professionals from different cultural backgrounds who are making work for, and about, a younger demographic.
The programme consists of over 100 international and Nordic films, all new or recently made, which include features, shorts, documentaries and animation films. Frequently praised for not patronising its younger patrons, all the selected films are typically created by world-class talent but, at only 15kr a screening, you can perhaps afford to take some risks. The festival frequently premieres films that are otherwise difficult to see in Denmark and some that go on to be international successes.
Alongside the screenings are workshops where young people can learn the different aspects of filmmaking. BUSTER also organises ‘professional days’, in which young audiences can meet film professionals.
Like many others, the festival culminates in a ceremony which is presided over by three separate juries – adults, youth and children – and awards cash prizes for the following categories: Best Film for Children, Best BUSTER, Best Child Actor/Actress, Best Film for Youth, Best Short Film and Best Documentary.
The Centre of Children and Youth Film at the Danish Film Institute originally laid the groundwork for BUSTER in 1999 and, at the same time, created the BUSTER Foundation with support from the DFI. BUSTER is now organised and managed by festival director Füsun Eriksen in co-operation with a board of directors. It’s also part of the Copenhagen Film Festival’s group, which organises CPH:PIX and CPH:DOX.
It’s worth remembering that while all the films with an under-10 rating will be dubbed into Danish, all the movies with a 13+ rating will be in their original language with English subtitles.
Here’s a random pick of highlights – check the website for more details and listings.
The Suicide Shop (13+)
An animated French musical that features Tim Burton-esque imagery and macabre humour of a similar vein. Original and thought-provoking.
Empire Bio, Fri 10:00; Grand Teatret, Sun & Sep 13, 10:15
How To Make Money Selling Drugs (14+)
Two of these documentary screenings are introduced by members of the police force. They detail the drug industry in a way that allows children to comprehend the ins and outs of an unsavoury business without glamourising or sensationalising it.
Palads, Fri 10:15, intro by Cph Police; Grand Teatret, Sat 09:30; CinemaxX, Thu (Sep 12) 12:15, intro by Cph Police
See www.buster.dk
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