DAN LAUSTSEN   DFF

Born: 15 June 1954, Aalborg, Denmark; grew up in Elsinore.

Education: Den Danske Filmskole/National Film School of Denmark [DDF] [1975-79; graduation film 'Skal vi danse først?'].

Career: Started as a photography apprentice with Schiller-Photography before attending Film School.

Ph commercials dir by Kristian Levring. Ph music videos by Rasmus Laumann.

Member of the DFF since 1979.

Appeared in the doc's 'Le pacte des loups - les coulisses du tournage/The Making of 'Brotherhood of the Wolf'' [2000, Pascal Laugier] and 'The Making of 'Darkness Falls'' [2002].

Awards: Bodil Special Award [1982] for 'Gummi Tarzan'; Robert Award [1984] for 'Isfugle'; Robert Award [1989] for 'Skyggen af Emma'; Robert Award [1990] for 'Miraklet i Valby'; 'Filmfotograf Johan Ankerstjernes Ærespris' nom [2000] for 'Lysets hjerte'; Robert Award nom [2001] for 'Dykkerne'; Robert Award [2003] & Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [2003] for 'Jeg er Dina'.

Website: Dan Laustsen & Dan Laustsen [by a fan].

Dan Laustsen: 'Light matters most. Naturally, camera angles are also important, but first and foremost it is with light that the cinematographer creates a mood and contributes to telling the story. Before you decide on your lighting, you must ask what do we want this scene to say? I have been criticized for shots that were too beautiful, but I think that's just the Danish mentality. After all, nobody would ever say that 'Lawrence of Arabia' or '1900' or 'The Tree of Wooden Clogs' were shot too beautifully. But it is a balancing act and I have made mistakes, with some scenes being too beautiful, but you might say that if you have that problem with a scene, it's not only the cinematography that's wrong. [...] Although 'Mimic' is shot very darkly, people were not unhappy with it in the USA. On the contrary, it earned me quite a bit of attention. The cinematographer enjoys greater freedom, because the younger directors take the visual language farther than ever before. The ideal of the past was that everyone should be able to see everything in a film - not much was left to the imagination.' [From article by Ebbe Iversen.]

1978        Det er et spørgsmål om stil/It's a Question of Style [Ernst Johansen & Kjeld Amundsen] ?; doc/?m

1979        Skal vi danse først?/Do We Start Off with a Dance? [Annette Olsen] c; prod DDF

1979        Lille Virgil og Orla Frøsnapper/Little Virgil and Frogeater Orla [Gert Fredholm] c; 2uc; ph: Jeppe Jeppesen

1980        M/S Mars af Ålborg [Carsten Sønder] b&w; doc/34m; cph: Lars Johansson

1981        Har du set Alice?/Have You Seen Alice? [Brita Wielopolska] c

1981        Gummi Tarzan/Rubber Tarzan [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1982        Den ubetænksomme elsker/The Thoughtless Lover [Claus Ploug] scope/c

1982        Otto er et næsehorn/Otto Is a Rhino [Rumle Hammerich] c; 2uc: Manuel Sellner

1982        Motivation - nærbilleder fra en ungdomsskole [Arne Bro] 16mm/c; doc/57m

1983        Isfugle/Thunderbirds/Kingfishers [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1983        Port nr. 3/Gate Number Three [Arne Bro] ?; doc/?m

1983        Dansk bladtegning - danske bladtegnere. En dokumentation 1983/Danish Newspaper Drawings [Kirsten

                    Stenbæk] c; doc/25m

1984        Min farmors hus/My Grandmother's House [Frode Pedersen] c

1984        Ziggurat [?] ?; doc/?m

1984        I vækstens Vold/In the Grip of Growth [Bo Hovgaard] ?; doc/?m

1985        Når bare han kan tælle køerne [Rumle Hammerich & Tim Cenius] c; short/32m

1985        Elise [Claus Ploug] c; addph: Gunnar Nilsson, Søren Berthelin & Simon Plum

1985        Johannes' hemmelighed/Johannes' Secret [Åke Sandgren] c; short/51m

1985        De tavse piger/The Quiet Girls [Anne Regitze Wivel & Arne Bro] c; doc/82m

1987        Jeg ville først finde sandheden/I Wanted to Find the Truth First [Jon Bang Carlsen] c; doc/29m

1987        Ansigt til ansigt/Face to Face [Anne Regitze Wivel] c; doc/166m; cph: Claus Baadsgaard

1987        Skyggen af Emma/Emma's Shadow [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1988        Guldregn/A Shower of Rain/Gold Rain ... or Laburnum [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c; edited from tv-series (1986)

1988        Himmel og helvede/Heaven and Hell [Morten Arnfred] c; 2uc; ph: Dirk Brüel

1988        David eller Goliath/David or Goliath [Anne Regitze Wivel] c; doc/110m; cph: Eigil Jacobsen

1988        Miraklet i Valby/Miracle in Valby [Åke Sandgren] c

1988        De udenforstående/The Outsiders [Arne Bro] ?; doc/42m

1988        Vand [Baby-svømning]/Water [Babyswimming] [Anne Regitze Wivel] ?; doc/12m

1989        Lykken er en underlig fisk/Happiness Is a Strange Fish [Linda Wendel] c; 2uc; ph: Bjørn Blixt

1990        Giselle [Anne Regitze Wivel] c; ballet doc/96m

1991        Drengene fra Sankt Petri/The Boys From St. Petri [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1992        Søren Kierkegaard [Anne Regitze Wivel] b&w/c; doc/165m; 5 seg

1993        Nattevagten/Nightwatch [Ole Bornedal] c

1993        Det personlige arbejde - en film om mennesker i udvikling på virksomheder i udvikling/Det udviklende arbejde [Arne

                    Bro] ?; doc/38m; cph: Eric Kress

1994        Carmen og Babyface/Carmen & Babyface [Jon Bang Carlsen] c; addph: Søren Berthelin

1996        Nightwatch [Ole Bornedal] s35/c; American remake of film (1993)

1996        Mimic [Guillermo del Toro] c; efx unit ph: Tom Turnbull

1997        Lysets hjerte/Heart of Light/Qaamarngup uummataa [Jacob Grønlykke] c

1998        Running Free [Sergei Bodrov] s35/c; 2uc/aph/vfx ph: Kurt E. Soderling; wildlife ph: Roger Vernon

1999        Dykkerne/The Divers/Beyond [Åke Sandgren] c; 2uc: Jens Schlosser