Cinema for me is…
Denmark – Ida Thorsen from Europa Cinemas on Vimeo.
Ida in 23 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Thoughtful, creative, obsessive, competitive, observant, restless, loving, messy, political, kind.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Worst habit: Overthinking.
Best quality: Making themed playlists.
3. Your dream job?
Any kind of writer, a composer of music for films, or something in the world of politics.
4. What do you like most about your country?
Our nature and our welfare state.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Pickled herring in curry sauce, aka. “karrysild”, with a soft boiled egg on rye.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
“Let’s go out and swing the wooden leg!”, an oldschool way inviting people up for some dancing.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Berlin.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Spain or The Netherlands.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
History, art and appreciation of differences.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Watching the plastic bag scene in American Beauty as an angsty 13-year old. I still sometimes get the same serenely beautiful feeling that Ricky gets; the feeling that “there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it”.
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
Palads Teatret in Copenhagen. The building is so kitsch and misplaced, it looks like something out of an abandoned theme park, which makes it absolutely brilliant.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Chihiro from Spirited Away.
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
Greta Gerwig or Jørgen Leth.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
The “I knew these people” monologue from Paris, Texas, by Wim Wenders.
In this scene, Travis and Jane speak to each other for the first time in four years. The tinted glass between them means that only Travis can see Jane and not the other way around. As Travis tells the story of two people who loved each other but hurt each other, Jane silently cries as she realizes that the story is of the two of them, that it is actually Travis speaking to her.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Portrait of A Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma 2020) FR
1917 (Sam Mendes, 2020) GB
Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004) GB
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Amélie from Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) FR
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
Either the soundtrack for Magnolia by P.T. Anderson (Jon Brion, Aimee Mann and Supertramp) or the soundtrack for Call Me By Your Name (Italian 80’s music and beautiful piano pieces). Also any score by Thomas Newman.
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
My 12-year old self would never forgive me for not saying Harry Potter.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Tilda Swinton or Cillian Murphy.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
To be as good at playing the guitar as Pat Metheny.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
My pink roller skates or a box containing written down versions of all my dreams since 2014.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being a member of the Danish National WSDC debate team for three years and competing at the world championships in 2018 in Croatia and in 2019 in Thailand.
23. What is your motto?
It’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings.