Shorta

Shorta
Denmark | 2020 | 95’ | Colour | Danish | Chinese and English subtitles | Group: C
Director: Anders Ølholm, Frederik Louis Hviid

First-time film-makers from Denmark Anders Olholm and Frederik Louis Hviid show ambition, brio and confidence in Shorta, audaciously taking a cinematic formula and playing hard and fast with the rules. Mike and Jens, the good-cop newbie and his hardened racist-cop partner, are sent to patrol the angry towerblocks of Svalegården after a teenager is hospitalised during an arrest. Tension on the streets is mirrored in Jen’s explosive temper in this pulse-racing, heightened chase drama where our preconceptions change every time our “heroes” take a detour down the wrong rat run. Olholm and Hviid plunge the viewer into a simmering cauldron of racial tensions which resonate far beyond Denmark – the teenager is captured saying “I can’t breathe”. But Shorta is also keen to examine the assumptions we make, particularly after a needless stop-and-search on a young boy called Amos who becomes embroiled with the cops’ destinies. Twisting and turning in the ghetto’s shadows through cinematographer Jacob Moller’s lens, this is bristling cinema from two brash new talents.

FIONNUALA HALLIGAN

The exact details of what took place while 19 year-old Danish citizen Talib Ben Hassi was in police custody remain unclear. But when news of his death comes in over the radio, two police officers on routine patrol in the ghetto of Svalegården are confronted by the uncontrollable pent-up rage of the ghetto’s youth, who lust for revenge. Suddenly, they find themselves fair game and must fight tooth and claw to find a way out.

Frederik Louis Hviid

Frederik Louise Hviid wrote and directed his first short film Palma in 2013. In addition to being selected for the Stockholm International Film Festival that year, the film secured him a place at the prominent independent film school, Super16. Further short films King (2015) and Halvmand (2016) gained international exposure, and in 2019 he directed two episodes of the acclaimed TV series Follow The Money. Shorta is his debut feature, co-directed by Anders Ølholm, and had its world premiere in the Critics Week section of the Venice Film Festival. In addition to shorts and features, Hviid has many commercials and music videos to his credit and in 2016 he received the Nordic Creative Talent Award for his films for Danish non-profit organisation BØRNEfonden.

Anders Ølholm

Anders Ølholm graduated as a screenwriter from the National Film School of Denmark in 2009. He made his screenwriting debut with the superhero film Antboy, which had its world premiere at Toronto in 2013. The following year he wrote Fenar Ahmad’s acclaimed drama Flow and Antboy : Revenge Of The Red Fury which was selected for Berlin. He made his directorial debut with the short film King (2015), also selected for Toronto. His recent writing credits include the third film in the Antboy trilogy and the film version of prize-winning novel Letters for Amina. Shorta, co-directed by Frederik Louis Hviid is his first feature.