| Zentropa | |
| Foundation: | 1992 |
| Founder: | Lars von Trier and Peter Aalbæk Jensen |
| Location: | Hvidovre, Denmark |
| Key People: | Anders Kjaerhauge (CEO) |
| Industry: | Motion Picture |
| Genre: | Animation, comedy, drama |
| Products: | Film |
Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen.[1] Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film Europa (1991), which started the collaboration between von Trier and Jensen.
It has produced over 70 feature films and has become the largest film production company in Scandinavia. It owns a number of subsidiary companies in Europe.[2] Zentropa is also responsible for creating a large studio complex called Filmbyen (Film City), where both Zentropa and many other film-related companies are located.[3]
Zentropa may be best known for creating the Dogme 95 movement, leading to such acclaimed films as Idioterne (1998), Festen (1998) and Mifunes sidste sang (1999).[4]
In 1998, von Trier made history by having his company Zentropa to be the world's first mainstream film company to produce hardcore pornographic films, under the division Puzzy Power. Three of these films, Constance (1998), Pink Prison (1999), and the adult/mainstream crossover-feature All About Anna (2005), were made primarily for a female audience and were extremely successful in Europe, with the first two being directly responsible for the legalising of pornography in Norway in March 2006.[5] Zentropa's initiative spearheaded a European wave of female-friendly porn films from directors such as Anna Span, Erika Lust and Petra Joy, while von Trier's company Zentropa was forced to abandon the experiment due to pressure from its English business partners.[6] In July 2009, women's magazine Cosmopolitan ranked Pink Prison as No. 1 in its Top Five of the best women's porn, calling it the "role model for the new porn-generation".[7]
In November 2017, in the wake of the Me Too movement, nine women – all former employees at Zentropa – spoke of an "ingrained" culture of abuse at the studio. Several of those interviewed said that their treatment had prompted them to stop working in the film industry altogether.[8] [9] Jensen, the company's co-founder, was specifically accused of sexual misconduct and sidelined from operations. An internal memo stated that he would no longer exercise "influence on the daily leadership of the company [and] will not partake in any management meetings."[10] According to von Trier, Jensen stepped down and passed to Anders Kjaerhauge as CEO of Zentropa[11] when the former's further allegations of harassment came to light.[12]
| Work | Year | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Jørgen Leth | Documentary | |
| Family Matters | 1993 | Susanne Bier | Feature |
| 1993 | Carsten Sønder | Feature | |
| Bíódagar | 1994 | Friðrik Þór Friðriksson | Feature |
| The Kingdom | 1994 | Lars von Trier | Miniseries |
| Á köldum klaka | 1995 | Feature | |
| Pan | 1995 | Feature | |
| 1995 | Carsten Rudolf | Feature | |
| 1995 | Carsten Sønder | Feature | |
| 1995 | Feature | ||
| The Eighteenth | 1996 | Anders Rønnow Klarlund | Feature |
| Harry & Sonja | 1996 | Feature | |
| The Greatest Heroes | 1996 | Thomas Vinterberg | Feature |
| Breaking the waves | 1996 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| Portland | 1996 | Niels Arden Oplev | Feature |
| The Kingdom II | 1997 | Lars von Trier | Miniseries |
| Credo | 1997 | Susanne Bier | Feature |
| The Last Viking | 1997 | Feature | |
| Love Fools | 1998 | Leif Magnusson | Feature |
| Constance | 1998 | Feature | |
| I Wonder Who's Kissing You Now? | 1998 | Feature | |
| Pink Prison | 1999 | Feature | |
| Possessed (1999 film) | 1999 | Anders Rønnow Klarlund | Feature |
| A Summer Tale | 2000 | Feature | |
| Together | 2000 | Lukas Moodysson | Feature |
| 2000 | Katrine Wiedemann | Feature | |
| 2000 | Feature | ||
| Ikingut | 2000 | Gísli Snær Erlingsson | Feature |
| The King Is Alive | 2000 | Kristian Levring | Feature |
| Italian for Beginners | 2000 | Feature | |
| HotMen CoolBoyz | 2000 | Knud Vesterskov | Feature |
| The Dog Hotel | 2000 | Per Åhlin | Animated feature |
| The Bench | 2000 | Per Fly | Feature |
| Dancer in the dark | 2000 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| 2000 | Feature | ||
| D-Dag | 2001 | Lars von Trier, Kristian Levring, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Thomas Vinterberg | TV film |
| Chop Chop | 2001 | Feature | |
| One-Hand Clapping | 2001 | Gert Fredholm | Feature |
| Truly Human | 2001 | Feature | |
| House of Hearts | 2002 | Feature | |
| Minor Mishaps | 2002 | Annette K. Olesen | Feature |
| Charlie Butterfly | 2002 | Dariusz Steiness | Feature - |
| Dogville | 2003 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| Sea of Silence | 2003 | Feature | |
| The Five Obstructions | 2003 | Feature | |
| 2004 | Anders Rønnow Klarlund | Animated feature | |
| 2004 | Feature | ||
| Brothers | 2004 | Susanne Bier | Feature |
| When Children Play in the Sky | 2005 | Lorenzo Hendel | Feature - |
| Manderlay | 2005 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| All About Anna | 2005 | Feature | |
| Snuppet | 2006 | Martin Vrede Nielsen | Feature |
| The Boss of it All | 2006 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| Råzone | 2006 | Christian E. Christiansen | Feature |
| 2007 | Jacob Thuesen | Feature | |
| At Night | 2007 | Short fiction | |
| Echo | 2007 | Feature | |
| 2007 | Anders Rønnow Klarlund | Feature | |
| Island of Lost Souls | 2007 | Nikolaj Arcel | Feature |
| Little Soldier | 2008 | Feature | |
| Fear Me Not | 2008 | Kristian Levring | Feature |
| 2008 | Feature | ||
| 2008 | Feature | ||
| Zoomers | 2009 | Christian E. Christiansen | Feature |
| Metropia | 2009 | Tarik Saleh | Animated feature |
| Mammoth | 2009 | Feature | |
| 2009 | Morten Giese | Feature | |
| The Blessing | 2009 | Heidi Maria Faisst | Feature - |
| Antichrist | 2009 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| Klown | 2010 | Mikkel Nørgaard | Feature |
| Berik | 2010 | Short fiction | |
| Nothing's All Bad | 2010 | Feature | |
| Donkeys | 2010 | Morag McKinnon | Feature |
| Truth About Men | 2010 | Feature | |
| In a Better World | 2010 | Susanne Bier | Feature; Won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film |
| A Family | 2010 | Feature | |
| The Woman That Dreamed About a Man | 2010 | Feature | |
| The Red Chapel | 2010 | Documentary | |
| Erotic Man | 2010 | Feature - | |
| ID A | 2011 | Christian E. Christiansen | Feature |
| Love Is in the Air | 2011 | Feature | |
| Vlogger | 2011 | Ricard Gras | Machinima
|
| Rebounce | 2011 | Heidi Maria Faisst | Feature |
| Melancholia | 2011 | Lars von Trier | Feature |
| Perfect Sense | 2012 | Feature | |
| Love Is All You Need | 2012 | Susanne Bier | Feature |
| The Secret Society of Fine Arts | 2012 | Feature | |
| A Royal Affair | 2012 | Feature | |
| A Caretaker's Tale | 2012 | Feature | |
| Nymphomaniac | 2013 | Feature | |
| The Keeper of Lost Causes | 2013 | Feature - | |
| The Hunt | 2013 | Feature | |
| The Salvation | 2014 | Feature | |
| The Absent One (2014 film) | 2014 | Feature | |
| 2014 | Feature | ||
| A Second Chance | 2014 | Feature | |
| Vitello Dugs a Hole | 2015 | Dorte Bengtson | Animated short feature |
| The Model | 2015 | Feature - | |
| The Day Will Come | 2016 | Jesper W. Nielsen | Feature |
| Vitello | 2018 | Dorte Bengtson | Animated feature |
| The House That Jack Built | 2018 | Feature | |
| 2018 | Christoffer Boe | Feature | |
| The Other Lamb | 2019 | Feature | |
| 2019 | Animated feature | ||
| Hope | 2019 | Maria Sødahl | Feature |
| Sweat | 2020 | Feature | |
| Riders of Justice | 2020 | Anders Thomas Jensen | Feature |
| Another Round | 2020 | Thomas Vinterberg | Feature; Won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film |
| Rushed | 2021 | Vibeke Muasya | Feature |
| The Kingdom Exodus | 2022 | Lars Von Trier | Miniseries |
| Forever | 2022 | Frelle Petersen | Feature |
| Together 99 (Tillsammans 99) | 2023 | Lukas Moodysson | Feature film |
| Families Like Ours | TBA | Thomas Vinterberg | Miniseries |
| Just Like Beauty | TBA | TBA | Feature |
Zentropa won many awards and nominations from local ceremonies including Robert and Bodil, as well as two Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for In a Better World and Another Round, both were directed by critically acclaimed Dogme 95-competitors Susanne Bier and Thomas Vinterberg.