Tao Nørager (born 18 April 1974) is a Danish

Film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

specializing in

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

. Nørager grew up in the Danish town

Virum Virum is a mostly residential, suburban neighbourhood in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, located on both sides of Lyngby Kongevej, approximately 15 km north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. The neighbourhood is bordered by Lake Furesø to the ...

with his mother, a free lance

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

and graphics designer for the advertising industry, and his father ''CASPER'', a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

for

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. At a young age he became friends with

Jurij Moskvitin Jurij Moskvitin (Robert Jurij Moskvitin Hansen, 6 January 1938 – 25 May 2005) was a classical pianist, composer, philosopher, mathematician and boheme. Jurij Moskvitin grew up in Denmark; his mother was a Russian aristocrat and his father was a ...

. During his early years Nørager quickly grew a fondness for the

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

drawing style and participated in the graffiti subculture of

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 a ...

during the 80's. The original 80's subcultural style is still present in most of Nørager's works. After graduating from the Danish Advertisingschool, Nørager continued onto The Short & Documentary Filmschool where he graduated in 2005 with the short film ''De Personlige''.

Fashion shows

After a couple of years working in advertising Nørager became friends with the Welsh fashion designer Andrew Mackenzie. Together with a professional camera crew Nørager directed Mackenzie's Fashion Shows in Milan from 2005 to 2007. The use of an entirely professional camera team using multiple stable camera angles and focusing on the detail in the design, instead of watching the audience and high tempo zoom and tilt, together with a professional film editor resulted in a completely new

paradigm In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. Etymology ''Paradigm'' comes f ...

for fashion photography.

''De Personlige''

Nørager directed his first picture ''De Personlige'' (''The Personals'') in 2005. It featured a story about a lonely business man who through a personal ad gets a blind date with what he thinks is a beautiful young woman and her child. During the dinner in the lady's apartment she refers to the picture she sent the man as "a bit dated" further more it turns out her now 30-year-old son also lives in the apartment. The business man regrets his involvement and tries to sneak away, with disastrous consequences.

''Bible Black: Five Days with Andrew Mackenzie'' (2011)

After his involvement with filming the fashion shows, Nørager decided to make a very personal documentary about his friend Andrew Mackenzie, ''Bible Black'' (2011) . The documentary features Mackenzie's great comeback to the fashion world after a couple years of obscurity due to legal trouble over the trademark name "Andrew Mackenzie". The documentary follows the increasingly anxious Mackenzie in the last days before a fashion show giving a unique view into the fashion world. As opposed to Nørager's fashion shootings featuring a complete film crew, Nørager chose to be the cameraman himself, in that way ensuring that he did not disturb Mackenzie in his work, and also making sure he could track Mackenzie's every move. The production of the movie happened without any public economic support and was

screened A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the w ...

as a working copy at the

Copenhagen International Documentary Festival CPH:DOX is the official name for the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, an international documentary film festival established in 2003 and held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. CPH:DOX has since grown to become one of the larg ...

where it received a standing applause from the audience and positive reviews by numerous newspapers, ''

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

'' going so far as calling it "A true view into the fashion industry". While the Internet magazine ''look4fashion.dk'' praised the camera work and called the movie an expirance for fashion lovers and movie lovers alike After nearly 2.5 years where the movie was shelved in legal battle, the movie was premiered at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental f ...

in 2011.

''True Family'' (2012)

Documentary about a traditional New Orleans jazz singer and street performer Meschiya Lake and the life of musicians in post

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. The Movie is described as a performance film about the near-death and vivid rebirth of both its subject, Meschiya, and the city that surrounds her and giving a novel glimpse of a thriving young creative crew. The movie premiered on 15 October 2012 during the New Orleans film festival.

''Zusa Street'' (2015)

Documentary about Anders Thordal, a

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graf ...

ist suffering from

multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This ...

who was a famous pioneer in Danish

in the 1980s, his fight for against time, his spirit and humor and his art which consists of large colorful cutout wooden letters spelling ZUSA, an acronym for "Zusammen" meaning together in German. The movie premiered on 17 January 2015 in "Grand Teatret" in Copenhagen

References

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External links

Trailer for Nørager's Documentary on the traditional New Orleans jazz musician Meschiya Lake''Bible Black'' home pageAndrew Mackenzie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norager, Tao 1974 births Living people Danish documentary film directors