In this solo podcast episode, Kay Xander Mellish explains how watching Danish film and television can help newcomers learn the language and understand Danish culture. He begins by recommending popular contemporary series (Borgen, The Bridge, The Killing) and award‑winning films (Another Round, The Hunt) before suggesting a progression from English subtitles to Danish subtitles to bridge spoken and written Danish. Mellish then gives a brief history of Danish cinema, noting the 1897 short "Driving with Greenland Dogs" and the founding of Nordisk Film, the world’s oldest continuously operating studio. He highlights genre‑specific recommendations: the noir "Two Minutes Too Late," the family‑friendly Olsen Gang and Father of Four series, classic dramas like "Matador," and sitcoms such as "House on Christianshavn," emphasizing their cultural relevance and the concept of jantelov. The episode outlines how to access Danish content: the free library service Filmstriben, Denmark on Film’s geographic archive, and DR.dk’s streaming library (with VPN tips for abroad). Mellish discusses Denmark’s film‑funding model—tax‑based subsidies from the Danish Film Institute, mandatory contributions from Netflix and other streaming platforms, and public transparency of funding allocations—arguing that this sustains Danish‑language production in an English‑dominated world. He concludes with practical language‑learning advice (using children’s programming for simple vocabulary) and promotes his upcoming book and speaking services.
Chapters
Watching movies and TV is a great way to get through the long Danish winter. And if you watch Danish movies or TV series, it's also a great way to learn Danish or learn about Danish culture. Many newcomers to Denmark tell me they've been watching recent shows like Borgen, or The Bridge, or The Killing. Or maybe movies like Another Round, which won an Oscar for Best International Feature, or The Hunt, both of which star Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark's most recent contribution to the world of movie stars. I saw Mads at the Copenhagen Opera recently, just standing by himself in the lobby with a glass of champagne. When you start watching Danish films, you'll probably want English subtitles. But as your knowledge of Danish grows, it's great to try out the Danish subtitles. That will help you bridge the gap between spoken Danish and written Danish, which don't always resemble each other if you're not a native speaker. Denmark has been serious about moviemaking for more than a century. The first Danish film, made in 1897, was called Driving with Greenland Dogs. Filmed in a Copenhagen park, it's a guy with a dogsled in the snow. 30 seconds long. It's on YouTube. I'll put a link at howtoliveindenmark.com. Soon after that, the Nordisk Film Company was founded. It is the world's oldest continuously operating film studio. Founded in 1906. If you go to the cinema in Denmark today, the show often starts with a Nordisk Film logo. Whatever type of movie you like, Denmark has probably made it since then. I'm a fan of film noir, those black-and-white crime dramas from the 1940s and 1950s with a femme fatale. And I recently watched a great Danish film noir called Two Minutes Too Late. It stars Paul Reichart, who is kind of the Cary Grant of Danish movies, the mid-century hunk, as a handsome playboy being blackmailed by an old girlfriend. Suddenly, she turns up dead. Did he do it? If you prefer comedies, the Olsen Gang series might be for you. The Olsen Gang is 3 lovable, bumbling, a little bit shabby comic criminals who are almost never violent. The Olsen Gang movies always start the same way: Egon Olsen walks out of prison and meets his buddies Benny and Kjeld. and they immediately begin making elaborate plans for their next caper. Their clever schemes inevitably go wrong, and at the end, Egon Olsen usually gets arrested again. The Olsen Gang movies are great for kids, and so is the Father of Four series, which goes back many decades. And unlike the Olsen gang, there are still new episodes. They just keep replacing the actors who play the main characters— the single father with 4 lovable kids. One of the most recent installments, from 2018, has the family at a holiday resort, facing off in a contest with a villainous family who pushes their children too hard. The bad family makes their children learn violin and study hard in school, while our heroes relax and enjoy free play in the contemporary Danish child-raising manner. There's not a lot of suspense, so I'll give away the ending. Both families unite on stage and sing a song called You're Good Enough As You Are. It's basically a musical version of Denmark's famous jantelov, of enforced modesty. The bad family has learned that they shouldn't try to be better than other people. That's jantelov. Where can you see Danish movies like these? Well, if you're in Denmark, you can see films for free via the library system. A service called Filmstriben offers films from all over the world. And lots from Denmark. You sign up with your CPR number and use it just like Netflix, streaming movies at your convenience. Now, that only works from within Denmark. Sadly, the same is true for Denmark on Film, which shows documentaries and old footage from around the country. The fun thing about Denmark on Film is that it has a map where you can find any geographical location. Like your town or your street, and find historical footage about that place. DR, or Danish Radio, the national broadcaster, has a selection of movies and TV series online, and you can usually access them outside of Denmark, certainly with a VPN. If you like vintage TV shows from your own culture, you might like the Danish Classics, Like Matador, which is a multi-part series about a fictional Danish town before and during the Second World War. With lots of interlocking plots and characters— the rich, the poor, the resistance, the Nazis— it will get you through many dark winter nights. Matador is deeply beloved in Denmark. The Danish version of Monopoly is called Matador, and you can visit a real-life version of the fictional town in the Bakken amusement park north of Copenhagen. Now, Matador is a drama, but if you prefer comedy, another vintage show available on dr.dk is House on Christianshavn. It's set in a working-class district of Copenhagen during the 1970s, and the characters have all sorts of interactions and humorous misunderstandings. DR.dk also has a wonderful selection of children's programming. I often recommend this to adults who are just getting started learning Danish, because the language is so simple and straightforward, and the simple songs for children stick in your head. All this is paid for by our giant Danish taxes, of course. And almost all of the contemporary film production in Denmark is supported by taxes, too. The Danish Film Institute, which is part of the Ministry of Culture, gives subsidies for scriptwriting, development, and production. And in the Danish spirit of transparency, you can see online exactly which films get how much money each year. The Danish government also forces Netflix and other big streaming services to contribute to Danish language production. Netflix has even made a couple of new Danish language TV series recently. I like this idea of keeping Danish film and TV fresh and current and relevant. It's all a part of making sure that Danish language film and TV survives. In an increasingly English-speaking world. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. We have a new book coming out soon. In the meantime, you can check out our current books at books.howtoliveindenmark.com or book me, Kay Xander Mellish, to speak to your group or organization at kxmgroup.dk. See you next time.
