EVENING LAND

ABOUT THE FILM:

In Danish with English subtitles.

“In October 1975, I was invited by Stig Björkman, a Swedish filmmaker in charge of production for the Danish Film Institute, to begin research on a feature film which was to be funded chiefly by the Institute, and two private producers, Steen Herdel and Ebbe Preisler. Together with Danish director/writer Poul Martinsen and journalist Carsten Clante, we co-wrote the script of what became EVENING LAND. Like most of my other films, this one involved extensive research, a brief outline, and almost no written dialogue. I began filming in March 1976 – with a cast of 192 non-professional actors, and Joan Churchill (PUNISHMENT PARK) as cinematographer. EVENING LAND depicts ‘fictional’ events in Europe at that time – beginning with a strike at a shipyard in Copenhagen over the building of four submarines for the French navy: not only because the financially troubled management has proposed a wage freeze to secure the contract, but because it is discovered that the vessels can be fitted with nuclear missiles. At the same time, a summit meeting of European Common Market ministers takes place in Copenhagen, and a group of radical demonstrators kidnap the Danish EEC Minister in protest against the production of nuclear submarines in Denmark, and in support of the strikers’ demands. The Danish police not only brutally attack a demonstration by the strikers, they also locate and rescue the kidnapped minister, and capture or kill the ‘terrorists.'” – Peter Watkins

FORMAT: DCP

COUNTRY: Denmark