Best Danish fantasy movies

Fantasy Sentences (2017)

Borrowing its title from an experimental text by Walter Benjamin. Many years ago, the cities by the river were gripped by a contagion. Things started to change and everything slowly became something else. It was not clear if transformation was a symptom of the disease or a way to escape it. The contagion touched everything and everyone: animals and plants, stones and soil, men, women and children, their thoughts, their dreams, their memories. An old woman once told me how all memories turn into trees, I could hardly make out what she was saying. She said she could hear the trees singing: To be a body, to be any body. After the years of contagion ended, the cities appeared untouched. One had to look hard to see the traces of the previous time. If one could listen to the trees, what would they say? A way out, a way out?

Once Upon a Time (1922)

The Princess of Illyria has spurned every suitor, when a gypsy loitering around the castle catches her eye. In actuality, he is the Prince of Denmark, there with his friend Kasper Røghat. The prince captivates her with magic devices, a noisemaker and a copper kettle, in return for kisses and a night in her bedchamber. When Kasper Røghat tells the king about the “affair,” the princess is thrown out of the castle, forcing her to settle in Denmark with the prince and work as a poor potter. Will the fairytale have a happy ending? (Stumfilm.dk)

Vincent (2023)

Nobody can understand you when you're 14. Except possibly a monster. A bullied teenager meets a stranger from out of town and they form an unusual relationship.

Leaves from Satan's Book (1920)

The power of Satan is highlighted in four historical tales: the betrayal and subsequent arrest of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette, and the Finnish War of Independence in 1918.

Eaten Horizons (1950)

A short experimental film by (Carl Th. Dreyer's cinematographer) Jørgen Roos and surrealist painter Wilhelm Freddie.

The Last Schnitzel (2017)

The world is ending, but the president of The Grand Turkish Republic won’t let that happen until he has a chicken schnitzel. Gleefully silly science fiction satire with political bite.

A Beautiful Curse (2021)

On an island struck with a sleeping phenomenon, a rogue visitor falls for one of the inhabitants, not realising the personal danger it brings.

Lukøje (2020)

When 10-year-old Ole finds a mysterious dream crafting machine at his granddad's attic, a new world of endless opportunities awakes. But what happens when you get so caught up in your own imagination, that you loose interest in the outside world?

The Fir Tree (2011)

The story of a Christmas tree is told through the 'voice' of the tree itself. The tree has big ambitions, doing everything it can to grow so tall that it reaches the sky. Featuring extraordinary photography, the film follows the adventures of its life from sapling to maturity. One December day, everything changes when a little boy falls in love with the fir tree.

Oskar and Josefine (2005)

Oscar and Josefine are celebrating Midsummer with Oscar's grandparents in the country. A demon, Thorsen, gives Josefine the gift of enabling her to travel back in time. Visiting Oscar's family in the 17th century, Josefine saves a sickly young girl from the stake. But now the villagers see Josefine as a witch and want to burn her at the stake instead.

Land Of Glass (2018)

Jas lives together with his father, who is a truck driver and spends lot of time away from home. One day, Jas finds a girl and an old lady hiding in the barn. They call themselves Neia and Alva and have strange clothes and hair. They say they live in the woods but cannot return. Soon, couple of secret service agents show up and start asking a lot of questions. Soon they figure out that they're poachers looking for healing gem of the elves. Jas, together with his best friend Isaac, decides to help their new friends against the poachers.

Teenland (2015)

Sally, 17, is locked up at Teenland, a prison-like institution for teens who are so fucked emotionally that they have developed supernatural powers. The mission is to normalize the misfit teens and Sally accepts the premise that she is sick and abnormal. But when a rebellious girl instead encourages Sally to embrace her strength, their friendship could change everything.

Der var engang (1966)

The Snow Queen (2000)

Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale is told here as a digital theater piece. The visual point of departure is fashioned by découpages created by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who is also the narrator. The découpages serve to establish the mood around the story of the children, Kaj and Gerda. They consist of a countless number of clippings, which are subsequently subjected to the processes of computer animation and mixed with graphics, live actors and music into an unique fairy tale universe.

The Tinderbox (1907)

Viggo Larsen’s adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale about the soldier who gets hold of a magic tinderbox capable of calling forth three dogs with big eyes that can fulfill all his wishes. When the soldier has one of the dogs transport a sleeping princess to his room, he is arrested and sentenced to death. But his adventure, as we know, does not end here.

The Witch and the Cyclist (1909)

A mischievous witch uses her dark magic on an innocent cyclist until he is all confused. He is forced to pedal backwards and at the same time, his bike changes shape anytime the witch wants it to. (stumfilm.dk)

The Magic Purse (1909)

A young sailor dozes off in the grass in Frederiksberg Have and wakes up surrounded by supernatural fairylike creatures. They take him to the mermaid Capriciosa, who gives him a magic, inexhaustible wallet. The only rule he must abide is never to share his fortune with his family. (stumfilm.dk)

Holger the Dane (1910)

FRAGMENT | In the cellars of Kronborg, a fully armed Holger the Dane sits quietly sleeping when he is suddenly called into action. Princess Gloriant has fallen into the clutches of the heathen giant Burmand, so Holger must act swiftly. Fortunately, he arrives in time to prevent the abductor from harming his intended victim. Only a fragment of the film has been preserved. In its entirety, it told the tales related in the two legends about ‘Holger Danske and Didrik the Strong’ and ‘Holger Danske and Burmand’. (stumfilm.dk)

Shakespeare og Kronborg (1950)

The film shows Kronborg as it must have looked to Shakespeare when he visited the castle, if indeed he did, three centuries ago. The filmmakers run with the idea of Shakespeare visiting Hamlet’s Castle and give it filmic expression. The past returns as King Frederik II and his court gather…

The Greeneyed Elephant (1960)

The Greeneyed Elephant (Danish: Elefanter på loftet) is a 1960 Danish family film directed by Peter Guildbrassen and starring Dirch Passer. The story revolves around two aspiring actresses who stumble upon an ancient Aztec sculpture of an elephant that has the power to switch both of their bodies. Little do they know their best friend can control the powers of the elephant, thus sending the two girls into a world of role reversals. As of 2007, it is the oldest film in the Troma library.

Sigurd Fafnersbane (1981)

An animated retelling of the legendary hero Sigurd of Norse folklore.

ABC - Spelling Africa (1964)

Africa-related animals and things are spelled and illustrated with Bent Barfod's wonderful animations. A for Africa, B for banana, C for chimpanzee, D for dromedary... The text was improvised by children from Den Lille Skole in Lyngby. (DFI)

The Beauty and The Beast (1989)

A Danish, silent, stop-motion puppet adaption of the fairy tale “The Beauty and the Beast”