European Film College (Danish: Den Europæiske Filmhøjskole) is a film school and a Danish folk high school in Denmark, offering 1-year film foundation programme in practical filmmaking covering the fields of screenwriting, camera, sound, acting, lighting, directing, editing, documentary and producing. The school is based in Ebeltoft and 120 students from around the world graduate from the programme every year.
Background
A board was established in 1989 in Denmark to promote and further film making for young people in Europe. European Film College subsequently opened on its present premises in May 1993, designed by
Heikkinen – Komonen Architects
Heikkinen – Komonen Architects is a Finnish architectural firm established by Mikko Heikkinen and Markku Komonen in Helsinki in 1974. Their work is characterised as a fusion between minimalism, high-technology and Abstract expressionism, typifie ...
.
Since the opening European Film College has trained more than 2000 young people in the art and craft of film making. The institution is based on the Danish tradition of the
Folk High School
Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...
(folkehøjskole), adult education institutions that do not grant academic degrees but aim to give students a common foundation in a particular field of study. This also means that both students, teachers and principal are living at the school throughout the programme.
Administration
The current Principals are Nikolaj Davidsen and Åsa Mossberg (Denmark). Previous Principals include Bjørn Erichsen (1990–1995), Kjeld Veirup (1995–2000), Jens Rykær (2000–2006), Pia Maria Marquard (2006–2007), Søren Høy (2007–2010), Mette Damgaard-Sørensen (2010–2014), Nadia Kløvedal Reich (2014–2018), Ellen Riis (2018-2021) and interim principals Klaus Hansen and Simon Weil (2021)
The school has an active network of former students and ambassadors across the world.
Film course
English is the working language both in courses and in everyday life. The curriculum combines classroom instruction in the different areas of film making as well as 3 major projects, the chance to make extracurricular projects, and several smaller exercises where students are assigned to crews to make film productions. Throughout the programme, students rotate the key roles in a
film crew
A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera o ...
in order to gain an overview of all areas of film production. Exercises and projects are screened and evaluated in the presence of all students and teachers.
Student life
The students live on campus and the course fee includes tuition, food, accommodation and leisure activities. 55% of the students are Danish and the rest come from all over the world, in recent years from up to 25 different countries. The majority of the students are aged between 19 and 25. European Film College requires no prior qualifications for admission, except for the fact that students need to be at least 18 years old and be able to speak and write English. The aim is to create a global learning atmosphere with an equal balance of male and female students.
Equipment
The college has a fully equipped 300 sq m. film studio, 14 Avid editing suites, a sound studio (Pro Tools), professional sound equipment and more than 20 professional HD cameras of various sizes.
The college has two cinemas. The larger Store Bjørn ("Big Bear", named after
Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film A/S (lit. "Nordic Film") is a Danish entertainment company established in 1906 in Copenhagen by filmmaker Ole Olsen. It is the fourth-oldest film studio in the world behind the Gaumont Film Company, Pathé, and Titanus ...
's logo) is fitted with
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
Surround sound (7.1), first-class film (digital and 3D) and Blu-ray projection and luxury seating for 209 viewers. The smaller one, Lille Bjørn (“Little Bear”) cinema can accommodate 46 viewers and can play Blu-ray and DVD.
Surroundings and leisure
European Film College is situated on the outskirts of the town of
Ebeltoft
Ebeltoft is an old port town on the central east coast of Denmark with a population of 7,204 (1 January 2022).Djursland
Djursland () is a 44 km × 33 km hilly lowland peninsula in Denmark at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, between Denmark and Sweden in Northern Europe. Djursland protrudes into the Kattegat sea, as part of the larger peninsula of Jutland, ...
peninsula.Denmark Popular attractions, such as the modern Glass Museum, the New Malt Factory and the Fregatten Jylland ship, attracts many tourists in the summer. The closest cities are
Grenå
Grenaa (or Grenå) is a Danish town and seaport on the east coast of the Jutlandic peninsula. Tourism, education and commerce are important sectors in the economy of Grenaa. It is the only larger town on Djursland. Grenaa is the municipal seat, an ...
30 km by road to the northeast and
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, 45 km by road to the west. There is an hourly bus service connecting with Aarhus and a coach service to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
departs from Ebeltoft. The
Aarhus Airport
Aarhus Airport is a civilian airport located northeast of Aarhus, Denmark.
History
The airfield was established in 1943 by German occupying forces in World War II and was later used as a Cold War military base for the Danish and other alli ...
is 15 km to the north. Ebeltoft and most of Djursland was designated as a
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
in 2009 and present conservational important and interesting nature scenery.
On campus there is a playing field,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
courts. Students can use the local fitness centre and indoor swimming pool at reduced rates.
Notable alumni
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Joachim Trier
Joachim Trier () (born 1 March 1974) is a Danish-born Norwegian film director, best known for ''Oslo, August 31st'' (2011), ''Louder Than Bombs'' (2015), ''Thelma'' (2017), and '' The Worst Person in the World'' (2021). For the latter film, he ...
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Nikolaj Arcel
Nikolaj Arcel (born 25 August 1972) is a Danish filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2012 film ''A Royal Affair'' which won two prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at ...
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Charlotte Bruus Christensen
Charlotte Bruus Christensen (born 20 March 1978) is a Danish cinematographer.
Biography
Born in Denmark, Christensen earned a master's degree in cinematography from the National Film and Television School in the UK, in 2004. After film school ...
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Pernille Fischer Christensen
Pernille Fischer Christensen (born 24 December 1969) is a Danish film director and the older sister of actress Stine Fischer Christensen. She started out in the movie business when she was 20 years old as an assistant to . During that time, Gis ...
Fabian Wagner
Fabian Wagner (born 25 April 1978) is a German cinematographer. His roles in the production of the television shows '' Sherlock'' and ''Game of Thrones'' have earned him two Creative Arts Emmy Award nominations. In 2017, he won the American Soci ...
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Hlynur Pálmason
Hlynur Pálmason (born 30 September 1984) is an Icelandic film director and screenwriter.Wendy Mitchell"Hylnur Palmason on his Iceland-set Critics' Week selection 'A White, White Day'" ''Screen Daily'', 16 May 2019. A native of Hornafjörður, Ice ...
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Martin Zandvliet
Martin Pieter Zandvliet (born 7 January 1971 in Fredericia) is a Danish film director and screenwriter.
Career
Zandvliet originally began as an editor, before writing and directing the documentary ''Angels of Brooklyn'' in 2002. His first ...