Taglines: The lie is spreading.
Directed and co-written by Thomas Vinterberg, The Hunt is a disturbing depiction of how a lie becomes the truth when gossip, doubt and malice are allowed to flourish and ignite a witch-hunt that soon threatens to destroy an innocent man’s life. Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for his penetrating portrayal of Lucas, a former school teacher who has been forced to start over having overcome a tough divorce and the loss of his job. Just as things are starting to go his way, his life is shattered when an untruthful remark throws his small community into a collective state of hysteria. As the lie spreads, Lucas is forced to fight a lonely fight for his life and dignity.
Co-founder of the Dogme movement and director of award-winning international hit Festen (The Celebration), Thomas Vinterberg delivers yet another powerful drama that is sure to leave its mark. The Hunt, which was co-written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm (whose credits also include A Hijacking, which he wrote and directed), won the 2012 European Film Awards Best Screenwriter prize and was nominated for prizes in a number of other categories, including Best Film, Director and Actor.
The Hunt is produced by Morten Kaufmann and Sisse Graum Jørgensen for Zentropa Entertainments in co-production with Film I Väst and Zentropa International Sweden with support from The Danish Film Institute, DR, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Svenska Film Institutet, SVT and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. Nordic distribution by Nordisk Film Distribution. International sales by TrustNordisk.
Director’s Statement
On a dark winter’s night in 1999, there was a knock on my door. A renowned Danish child-psychologist stood outside in the snow with some documents raving about children and their fantasies. He spoke about concepts such as “repressed memory,” and even more disturbing, about his theory that “thought is a virus.” I didn’t let him in. Didn’t read the documents. Went to bed.
Ten years later I needed a psychologist. I called him, and as a belated form of politeness, I read the documents. And was shocked. Spellbound. And I felt that here was a story that needed to be told. A story of a modern-day witch-hunt. The Hunt is the result of this reading. – Thomas Vinterberg
Producer’s Statement
The Hunt was selected for The Danish Cinema Club quite early on. With its 200,000 potential audience members, the club is in itself enough to constitute a commercial success in Denmark. They only admit three Danish films, so we happily accepted their offer of a January 2013 Danish release date since January is traditionally a very good month in Denmark.
However, that meant The Hunt was ineligible for the 2012 Oscar season even though it was in Cannes earlier that year. Fortunately, The Hunt exceeded every optimistic expectation and became the third biggest audience success in Danish film in decades. – Sisse Graum Jørgensen
The Hunt (2013)
Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold, Alexandra Rapaport
Screenplay by: Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg
Production Design by: Torben Stig Nielsen
Cinematography by: Charlotte Bruus Christensen
Film Editing by: Janus Billeskov Jansen, Anne Østerud
Costume Design by: Manon Rasmussen
Set Decoration by: Rasmus Balslev-Olesen
Music by: Nikolaj Egelund
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content including a graphic image, violence and language.
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: July 12, 2013
Visits: 51
