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Bille August is a Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Director of Photography and Cinematography Danois born on 9 november 1948
Bille August (born 9 November 1948) is a Danish Academy Award-winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of only six directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1992 for The Best Intentions, based on the autobiographical script by Ingmar Bergman. He was married to Swedish actress Pernilla August from 1991 to 1997. His son Anders August is a screenwriter.
Il réalise son premier long métrage In my life (Honning måne) en 1978. Il adapte au cinéma plusieurs romans danois, dont Smilla et l'amour de la neige de Peter Høeg et Pelle le Conquérant, inspiré du livre de l'écrivain Martin Andersen Nexø. Avec le second long métrage, il obtient la Palme d'or au Festival de Cannes en 1988 puis le Golden Globe et l'Oscar du meilleur film étranger l'année suivante. Les Meilleures Intentions, portrait de jeunesse des parents d'Ingmar Bergman (écrit par le cinéaste lui-même) lui vaut une seconde Palme d'or cannoise en 1992.
En 1993, il réalise son premier film hollywoodien La Maison aux esprits (The House of the Spirits).
Absent des écrans de 1998 à 2007, il revient avec Goodbye Bafana, drame sur la relation entre Nelson Mandela et son geôlier.
En 2002, il a été membre du jury de David Lynch lors du 55e Festival de Cannes.
En 2016 il préside le jury des longs métrages du 64e Festival de Saint-Sébastien. En décembre de la même année il fait partie du jury de Béla Tarr lors du 16e Festival de Marrakech.
En novembre 2018 il préside le jury du 40e Festival international du film du Caire.
Vie privée
Il a été marié à la comédienne Pernilla August entre 1991 et 1997 avec qui il a eu une fille, Alba, née le 6 juin 1993, également actrice.
Source : Wikidata
Bille August
Biography
Le Danois Bille August fait ses études en Suède et fréquente l'École du Film Documentaire de Stockholm. À partir de 1971, il se lance dans la réalisation de nombreux courts métrages, films publicitaires et téléfilms.Il réalise son premier long métrage In my life (Honning måne) en 1978. Il adapte au cinéma plusieurs romans danois, dont Smilla et l'amour de la neige de Peter Høeg et Pelle le Conquérant, inspiré du livre de l'écrivain Martin Andersen Nexø. Avec le second long métrage, il obtient la Palme d'or au Festival de Cannes en 1988 puis le Golden Globe et l'Oscar du meilleur film étranger l'année suivante. Les Meilleures Intentions, portrait de jeunesse des parents d'Ingmar Bergman (écrit par le cinéaste lui-même) lui vaut une seconde Palme d'or cannoise en 1992.
En 1993, il réalise son premier film hollywoodien La Maison aux esprits (The House of the Spirits).
Absent des écrans de 1998 à 2007, il revient avec Goodbye Bafana, drame sur la relation entre Nelson Mandela et son geôlier.
En 2002, il a été membre du jury de David Lynch lors du 55e Festival de Cannes.
En 2016 il préside le jury des longs métrages du 64e Festival de Saint-Sébastien. En décembre de la même année il fait partie du jury de Béla Tarr lors du 16e Festival de Marrakech.
En novembre 2018 il préside le jury du 40e Festival international du film du Caire.
Vie privée
Il a été marié à la comédienne Pernilla August entre 1991 et 1997 avec qui il a eu une fille, Alba, née le 6 juin 1993, également actrice.
Usually with
Filmography of Bille August (21 films)
Director
Add to a movie list
55 Steps (2018)
, 1h55Directed by Bille August
Origin German
Genres Drama
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about psychiatry, Films set in psychiatric hospitals
Actors Helena Bonham Carter, Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Tambor, Tim Plester, Michael Culkin, Jonathan Kerrigan
Rating68%
L'histoire vraie d'une amitié et complicité féminines entre deux femmes que tout oppose. Avocate des droits des patients, Colette Hugues devient l'avocate d'Eleanor Riese, une patiente schizophrène de l’unité de psychiatrie d’un hôpital de San Francisco. Ensemble, elles vont se lancer dans une bataille juridique pour améliorer le traitement des malades mentaux maltraités et laissés-pour-compte dans les hôpitaux. En parallèle, Eleanor va tout faire pour transformer la vie bourgeoise et trop rangée de Colette.
The Chinese Widow (2017)
, 1h37Directed by Bille August
Origin Chine
Genres Drama, War, Historical, Romance
Actors Emile Hirsch, Liu Yifei, Vincent Riotta, Gallen Lo, Gong Hanlin, Cary Woodworth
Rating62%
1941. L'attaque de Pearl Harbor, perpétrée par les Japonais, marque douloureusement la population américaine. Le président Franklin D. Roosevelt décide de riposter par le Raid de Doolittle, le premier bombardement effectué sur l'Empire du Japon.
Silent Heart (2014)
, 1h38Directed by Bille August
Origin Danemark
Genres Drama
Themes Medical-themed films
Actors Ghita Nørby, Morten Grunwald, Paprika Steen, Jens Albinus, Danica Curcic, Pilou Asbæk
Rating70%
A family of three generations gather over a weekend to say goodbye to Esther (Ghita Nørby) who suffers from an incurable disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and with the help of her husband Poul (Morten Grunwald) has chosen to pursue euthanasia when the weekend is over. But as the end approaches, the mother's decision becomes more and more difficult to handle for the daughters Heidi (Paprika Steen) and Sanne (Danica Curcic), and old conflicts come to the surface.
Night Train to Lisbon (2013)
, 1h51Directed by Bille August
Origin Suisse
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime, Romance
Actors Jeremy Irons, Christopher Lee, Bruno Ganz, Mélanie Laurent, Martina Gedeck, Jack Huston
Rating67%
Walking over a bridge in Bern, Raimund Gregorius, a Swiss professor of ancient languages, notices a young woman in a red coat standing on the railing, about to leap. Dropping his briefcase, he runs and pulls her down. She helps him gather the papers that have spilled from his briefcase and accompanies him to the school where he teaches. But instead of waiting to talk, she leaves during the middle of his class, without her coat.
Marie Kroyer (2012)
, 1h40Directed by Bille August
Origin Danemark
Genres Drama, Biography
Actors Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Søren Sætter-Lassen, Sverrir Gudnason
Rating62%
To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
, 1h40Directed by Claude Lelouch, Abbas Kiarostami, Amos Gitaï, Elia Suleiman, Nanni Moretti, Takeshi Kitano, Andreï Kontchalovski, Youssef Chahine, Roman Polanski, Wim Wenders, Chen Kaige, Raoul Ruiz, Olivier Assayas, Theo Angelopoulos, Michael Cimino, Wong Kar-wai, Manoel de Oliveira, Jane Campion, Alejandro González Iñárritu, David Lynch, Gus Van Sant, Atom Egoyan, Lars von Trier, Ken Loach, Walter Salles, David Cronenberg, Zhang Yimou, Bille August, Aki Kaurismäki, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Raymond Depardon
Origin France
Genres Drama, Comedy
Actors Isabelle Adjani, Anouk Aimée, Antoine Chappey, David Cronenberg, Yosra El Lozy, Taraneh Allidousti
Rating67%
35 réalisateurs d'origines très variées (25 pays différents) ont tous mis en scène un court métrage de 3 minutes, sur le thème de la salle de cinéma. Le film en regroupe 33 puisque les frères Coen et les frères Dardenne travaillent ensemble. Celui de David Lynch ne faisait pas partie du film mais a été présenté en ouverture du festival.
Goodbye Bafana (2007)
, 1h57Directed by Bille August
Origin Belgique
Genres Drama, Biography, Historical
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about racism, Political films
Actors Dennis Haysbert, Joseph Fiennes, Diane Kruger, Mehboob Bawa, Terry Pheto
Rating70%
The young revolutionary Nelson Mandela is arrested, and it is the task of censor James Gregory to watch him. He has long since moved to South Africa with the family for his work in the prison of Robben Island, and slowly he clashes with the politics and racist culture of his countrymen and the people of his own race. Gregory begins to express hatred for South African apartheid. In time, Gregory challenges his superiors, and seeks to improve Mandela's life until he is released from prison after twenty-seven years of imprisonment, and is elected president of South Africa.
Return to Sender (2004)
Directed by Bille August
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, Timothy Daly, Kelly Preston, Mark Ryan, Mark Holton
Rating63%
Quinn's character, a jaded ex-lawyer, has been befriending and exploiting death row convicts and selling their final letters to the media. While attempting to foster his relationship with Nielsen's character, he becomes convinced that she is innocent.
A Song for Martin (2001)
, 1h58Directed by Bille August
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Sven Wollter, Reine Brynolfsson, Jonas Falk, Dag Malmberg
Rating68%
Martin Fischer is successful composer. During a rehearsal for an upcoming concert he makes contact with first-violinist Barbara Hartman. During the concert, and Barbara and Martin flirts a lot with each other, although they are both married and have adult children. After the concert, they meet out back. She feels ill, and he says that he will follow her home. They stop at his hotel and goes inside, kisses, and Barbara says she loves him. Somewhat later, she tells her two adult children that she is going to separate from the children's father. Phillip, the son becomes very angry, while her daughter Karin is more indulgent. The film jumps to Barbara's honeymoon with Martin in Morocco. After they return home, Martin experiences amnesia, and is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Les Misérables (1998)
, 2h14Directed by Bille August
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Historical, Crime, Romance
Actors Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, Claire Danes, Toby Jones, Hans Matheson
Rating73%
Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson), a man arrested for stealing bread nineteen years earlier, is released on parole. When no one is willing to allow a convict to stay the night, Bishop Myriel (Peter Vaughan), kindly welcomes him into his home. Valjean explains to Myriel that sleeping in a real bed will make him a new man. In the night, Valjean, interrupted by Myriel while stealing his silverware, strikes him and flees. When the police arrest Valjean, Myriel tells them that the silverware was a gift and scolds Valjean for forgetting to take his candlesticks as well. Myriel then reminds Valjean that he is to become a new man.
Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)
, 2h1Directed by Bille August
Origin Danemark
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Julia Ormond, Gabriel Byrne, Richard Harris, Jim Broadbent, Tom Wilkinson, Robert Loggia
Rating62%
In 1859, a meteorite streaks across the sky and crashes into the Gela Alta glacier in western Greenland, causing a massive explosion that kills an Inuit fisherman.
Jerusalem (1996)
, 2h48Directed by Bille August
Genres Drama
Actors Ulf Friberg, Maria Bonnevie, Pernilla August, Reine Brynolfsson, Lena Endre, Olympia Dukakis
Rating68%
The House of the Spirits (1993)
, 2h20Directed by Bille August
Origin German
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy-drama, Romance
Themes Seafaring films, Politique, Films about sexuality, Transport films, Rape in fiction, Rape and revenge films, Political films, Films about Latin American military dictatorships
Actors Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave
Rating68%
Prologue A young woman, Blanca Trueba (Winona Ryder), arrives at a house with an old man and the young woman starts remembering her life.
The Best Intentions (1992)
, 5h33Directed by Bille August
Origin Suede
Genres Drama, Romance
Actors Pernilla August, Samuel Fröler, Max von Sydow, Gustaf Hammarsten, Lennart Hjulström, Ghita Nørby
Rating76%
Henrik Bergman is a student of theology who comes from a poor family. On the other hand, the family of his best friend Ernst Åkerblom is wealthy. Although Henrik is in a relationship with Frida, a waitress, he falls in love with Ernst's sister Anna Åkerblom. Anna's family doesn't consider him fit to join the family, so he stays with Frida. Some years later, Anna's father is deceased, Anna suffers from tuberculosis and Henrik has finished his studies. Now the wedding can take place. Anna follows her husband to a small village in the north of Sweden. Their different characters and his low income cause constant tensions between them. When he turns down a job offer for a prestigious position in Uppsala, the situation exacerbates.
Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
, 2h37Directed by Bille August
Origin Danemark
Genres Drama
Themes Films about alcoholism, Films about children, Films about immigration, La précarité
Actors Max von Sydow, Erik Paaske, Björn Granath, Astrid Villaume, Axel Strøbye, Sofie Gråbøl
Rating77%
Based upon the famous 1910 novel of the same name by Danish writer Martin Andersen Nexø, the film is set in the late 1850s and early 1860s. A boat filled with emigrants from Sweden arrives at the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle who have moved to Denmark from Skåne County, in southern Sweden, to find work after the death of Pelle's mother. They find employment at a large farm, but find themselves treated as the lowest form of life. It is only as Pelle starts to speak Danish that he begins to gain in confidence, but is still discriminated against as a foreigner. But neither boy nor father is willing to give up their dream of finding a better life than that which they left in Sweden.