Cinema of Denmark

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen may be one of Hollywood's favorite villains, but for cinema back home, he says, the question of good and evil is a bit more nuanced than most U.S. films suggest.

The actor perhaps best known for playing Le Chiffre in the 2006 Bond film "Casino Royale" was at the Venice film festival to promote the Danish historical drama "The Promised Land."

Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, known for films like "Melancholia" and "Dancer in the Dark," has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, his production company Zentropa said on Aug. 8.

The Danish Institute and Embassy are inaugurating their annual film screening program on Thursday, February 21, with a showing of "The Bench," directed by Per Fly. This is the first part of Fly's trilogy describing the strata of modern Danish society. "The Bench," which offers a glimpse into life among the lower class, was released in 2000 and won several awards.

The Danish Institute is showing "Silent Heart," a 2014 drama by Bille August about a family gathering at the deathbed of the matriarch. The screening, which is a Danish Film Club event arranged by the institute and the Danish Embassy in Athens, starts at 9 p.m. and admission is free of charge. There will be English subtitles.

The Danish Embassy and the Danish Institute at Athens present Thomas Vinterberg's 2010 film "Submarino" on Thursday, March 22, in a free-of-charge screening that starts at 7 p.m. The drama is about two brothers who, after years of estrangement, cross paths at their mother's funeral and try to put their part behind them. The film is in Danish with English subtitles.

The Danish Institute is screening Susanne Bier's 2014 film "A Second Chance" on Thursday, February 22, at 7 p.m. In Danish with English subtitles, the thriller follows a police detective who puts himself on the wrong side of the law he's supposed to defend when he kidnaps a baby from abusive parents in order to replace his own child, who has died.

The Danish Institute in Athens is hosting a free screening of the 1910 landmark silent film "The Abyss" by Urban Gad, starring Asta Nielsen in a stunningly natural performance that helped earn the Danish actress international stardom - though it also got the film banned in Norway and Sweden, where it was considered too risque.

The Danish Institute in Athens presents free screenings of critically acclaimed Danish productions. The selection on Tuesday, May 23, is Lars von Trier's award-winning and critically acclaimed "Breaking the Waves," in which Emily Watson plays a Scottish woman whose husband encourages her to sleep with other men when he is paralyzed in an accident. The screening starts at 7 p.m.

The Danish Embassy and Danish Institute in Athens present free screenings of critically acclaimed Danish productions. The selection on Tuesday, April 4, is of Nikolaj Arcel's award-winning "A Royal Affair," about a young queen married to a mad king who falls his love with the court physician and helps him start a revolution. The screening starts at 7 p.m.

The Danish Institute in Athens presents free screenings of critically acclaimed Danish productions. The selection on Tuesday, March 7, is Susanne Bier's "In a Better World," an Oscar-winning drama thriller about the dynamic between two fathers and their sons when the families come together. The screening starts at 7 p.m. and will be in Danish with English subtitles.