A series of six shorts each exploring different aspects of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s paintings from palette and composition, to mood and content.

Each short provides thought provoking material and new ways of looking at Hammershøi’s artwork.

102A: Couple F*cking/Det knullande paret
Directed by Peter Modestij (Sweden, 2013). Hoping to raise his status, a man buys an art piece—a copulating couple—at auction and then suffers the unexpected consequences. With its muted palette, carefully modulated light, and spare interiors, Couple F*cking echoes the characteristic aesthetic of Hammershøi’s paintings and their underlying sense of unease.
14 min. | In Swedish with English subtitles.

About the director
Peter Modestij (b. 1976) is a Swedish screenwriter, director, producer, and musician living in Stockholm and Göteborg. He is known for the short films Mina (2014) and A Living Soul/En levande själ (2014).

The Flat/Byt
Directed by Jan Švankmajer (Czech Republic, 1968). A nondescript man is trapped in a sinister flat where nothing seems to obey the laws of nature: paintings move independently, furniture suddenly disintegrates into sawdust, and doors open onto walls. Like the static women that populate Hammershøi’s interiors, the man is trapped amidst his peculiar furnishings—Hammershøi’s irregular, often illogically arranged furniture brought to life.
13 min. | In Czech with English subtitles.

About the director
Jan Švankmajer (b. 1934) is an award-winning Czech filmmaker and self-described Surrealist known for his macabre reimaginings of fairytales and avant-garde animations, including the 1988 feature-length live action/animated adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

World of Glory/Härlig är jorden
Directed by Roy Andersson (Sweden, 1991). World of Glory follows a pale, middle-aged man on a tour of his bleakly stylized life. Though Andersson’s film is far more political, his framing, restricted palette, and depopulated urban spaces call to mind Hammershøi’s paintings of Copenhagen streets and interiors.
14 min. | In Swedish with English subtitles.

About the director
Roy Andersson (b. 1943) graduated in 1969 from the Swedish Film Institute’s Film School in Stockholm and his first feature, A Swedish Love Story/En kärlekshistoria (1970), won four prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1970. Giliap (1975), his second film, was presented at the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1976.

In 1975 Andersson started a pioneering career as a director of commercials, earning a total of eight Golden Lions at Cannes. In 1981 he founded Studio 24 in order to freely produce and make his films and it is here that he developed his unique filmmaking style. After Something Has Happened/Någonting har hänt (1987) and World of Glory/Härlig är Jorden (1991), two short films that received a number of prestigious awards, Andersson shot Songs from the Second Floor/Sånger från andra våningen (March 1996 – May 2000), which won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 2000. His 2007 film You, the Living/Du levande won several international awards as well as the Guldbagge Award for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture in 2008. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, his fifth feature film and the final chapter of The Living Trilogy was awarded the Golden Lion in Venice in 2014.

Blessed Be This Place/Velsignet være dette sted
Directed by Carl Olsson (Denmark, 2013). Blessed Be This Place is a multi-plot film about the search for identity and a place of belonging. Much like Hammershøi’s paintings, the film focuses on interior spaces, capturing its subjects in moments that, though quiet, are alive with energy.
29 min. | In Danish with English subtitles.

About the director
Carl Olsson recently finished his final year as a documentary director at The National Film School of Denmark, Copenhagen. Earlier studies include Nordens Folkhögskola Biskops Arnö and specific courses at Stock’olm’s Dramatiska Institutet.

Nora
Directed by Carrie Cracknell (U.K., 2012). Commissioned by The Guardian, the Young Vic, and The Space, Nora is a modern re-imagination of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. In Cracknell’s version of the play, Nora is a modern Londoner. Although her surroundings look very different, Nora’s life is just as constricting as she puts on a smile for her family and colleagues.
9 min.

About the director
Carrie Cracknell is a British theater director and served as Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, London, from 2007 to 2012. She is an Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre and an Associate Artist at the Young Vic. In 2013 Cracknell, along with Oliver Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens and Tony Award-winning designer Ian MacNeil, created a compelling new version of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Young Vic.

Spring/Frühling
Directed by Michael Podogil (Austria, 2015). Spring offers a brief glimpse into the life of an elderly woman as she prepares to leave her apartment, yearning for life outside its four walls. As in Hammershøi’s paintings, the woman’s grand Viennese surroundings become as much the focus of the film as the woman is herself.
4 min. | In German with English subtitles.

About the director
During his time as a student at the Technical University of Vienna Michael Podogil (b. 1985) completed small projects and attended film school in Rockport, Maine. He studied directing at the Vienna Film Academy under Austrian film director and screenwriter Michael Haneke and i currently works in TV and advertising.