Eva Tind

A RED CARPET FOR ASTA NIELSEN

– A film essay by Eva Tind.

When the writer and visual artist Eva Tind accidentally moves into the house where the silent film star Asta Nielsen was born, and learns that 'Die Asta' not only shares a name, but also a date of birth with Eva Tind's own mother, she decides to search for those clues Asta Nielsen has left behind. Eva Tind interviews a number of prominent film characters, and talks, among other things, to the German film curator Karola Gramann, who describes Asta Nielsen as an actress who brought an extreme, physical sensuality to her films. And it is precisely the strong physical presence of 'Die Asta' and the actors that characterize Eva Tind's personal film essay A red carpet for Asta Nielsen. With the camera as her pen, she evokes Asta Nielsen – in pictures, in words and in the rooms where Asta lived.

Watch the movie at Filmstriben.
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Watch clips on Vimeo.

The film critics wrote:

"Eva Tind's film is a beautiful pictorial poem about 
greatness for all times.... The technique that Eva Tind uses 
in her film poem is as simple as it is brilliant. She convenes 
people who have met Asta Nielsen and/or dealt with 
her films and gets them to comment on her. And then 
Eva Tind dresses them is a prop associated with 
Asta Nielsen. Suddenly the characters come to life, and 
at the same time Asta Nielsen gets new life, so to speak."
— Ulrich Breuning, Danish film critic.

“It's a wonderful film, refreshingly different. There is
something straightforward and surprisingly honest 
about the whole approach ... The film is an admiring caress, 
which feels like a delight when Eva Tind carefully 
turns the pages of a photo album or a scrapbook and 
in the same way scene by scene shows pictures from 
Asta Nielsens travels, and film images of what Tind 
has found in quietly waiting collections. The performance 
is on again, and Tind then rolls the runner up into 
an artificial flower in her arms".
- Allan Berg, Review on Filmkommentaren.

"A red carpet for Asta Nielsen is not about getting to 
the 'truth' about Asta or didactically teaching 
the audience about her merits, but rather about evoking 
the feeling, the aura of Asta. An attempt to make visible 
something that is almost invisible to the eye but 
strongly noticeable – just like Asta's dark and intense eyes,
which pierce time and place and fasten her acutely 
to the spectator who dares to meet her gaze”.
– Sophie Engberg Sonne, film critic.
Read the full text by Sophie Engberg here.

A RED RUNNER FOR ASTA NIELSEN 
premiered in the country's cinemas on 9/11/2016 
and was reviewed in several national newspapers.
It has received the award for BEST DOCUMENTARY 
at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards, 2017.

Cast:
Asta Nielsen
Bodil Jørgensen
Marguerite Engberg
Torben Skjødt Jensen
Poul Malmkjær
Jørgen Sprogøe
Mariana Jankovic
Gerrit Thies
Madeline Herman
Karola Gramann
Heide Schlüpmann
Åsa Sjöblom
Michael Pfundt
Astrid Thürke
Annike Kross
Eva Tind

Crew:

Instruktør: Eva Tind
Kreativ producer: Mille Haynes
Postproducer Pelle Folmer
Fotograf: Sidsel Becker
Klipper: Anders Refn
Bodil Kjærhauge
Komponist: Mark Solborg
Lyddesign: Jacques Pedersen
Makeup: Lis Kasper Bang
Grafik: Wrong Studio
Kostumer: Kristina Søndergaard
Colourist: Ricco Højland Hansen
Dansk oversættelse: Lasse Glavind
Tysk oversættelse: Otto Zell
Postproduktion: Kong Gulerod

Facility:
Kong Gulerod
Mainstream
Filmværkstedet
1606 Aps
Tonemestrene

Supported by:
DFI, Dansk Filminstitut

Filmværkstedet /København
Statens Kunstfond
Danske Filminstruktører
Dansk Forfatterforening /Autorkontoen
Dreyers Fond