Anders Thomas Jensen

Directing

Anders Thomas Jensen

Born 1972-04-06 · Frederiksværk, Danmark

Anders Thomas Jensen (born 6 April 1972 in Frederiksværk) is a Danish screenwriter and film director. Jensen won the Oscar for his 1998 film Election Night. He also received Oscar nominations in the live-action short category for his films Ernst & The Light (1996) and Wolfgang (1997). From the end of the 1990s and into the new millennium he wrote the screenplays for most of the Danish movie blockbusters of the period, including Mifune's Last Song (co-written with Søren Kragh-Jacobsen), In China They Eat Dogs, Open Hearts, Stealing Rembrandt, and Brothers. In 2000 Anders Thomas Jensen for the first time directed a feature film: the action-comedy Flickering Lights, and since then directed The Green Butchers and Adam's Apples. In 2005 he received the Nordisk Film Award (1000 Danish kroner times the age of Nordisk Film).

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Dark Tower poster
5.8

A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower

2017

The Promised Land poster
7.7

Denmark, 1755. Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer a Danish heath reputed to be uncultivable, with an impossible goal: to establish a colony in the name of the king, in exchange for a royal title. A single-minded ambition that the ruthless lord of the region will relentlessly seek to put down. Kahlen's fate hangs in the balance: will his endevours bring him wealth and honour, or cost him his life...?

The Promised Land

2023

Brothers poster
7.3

When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.

Brothers

2009

Riders of Justice poster
7.3

Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims foul play, Markus suspects his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.

Riders of Justice

2020

Riders of Justice poster
7.3

Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims foul play, Markus suspects his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.

Riders of Justice

2020

The Last Viking poster
7.3

After serving fourteen years for robbery, Anker is released from prison and reunites with his mentally ill brother Manfred, who alone knows where the stolen money is hidden but has forgotten its location, sending them on a journey to recover the loot and confront who they are.

The Last Viking

2025

The Last Viking poster
7.3

After serving fourteen years for robbery, Anker is released from prison and reunites with his mentally ill brother Manfred, who alone knows where the stolen money is hidden but has forgotten its location, sending them on a journey to recover the loot and confront who they are.

The Last Viking

2025

The Salvation poster
6.5

In 1870s America, a peaceful American settler kills his family's murderer which unleashes the fury of a notorious gang leader. His cowardly fellow townspeople then betray him, forcing him to hunt down the outlaws alone.

The Salvation

2014

Adam's Apples poster
7.5

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

Adam's Apples

2005

Adam's Apples poster
7.5

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

Adam's Apples

2005

The Duchess poster
7.0

A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

The Duchess

2008

The Green Butchers poster
7.1

Svend and Bjarne work for a butcher in a small Danish town. Fed up with their boss' arrogance, they decide to start their own butcher shop. After dismal beginnings, an unfortunate accident happens which coincides with a large order of meat. One hasty decision leads to another and soon the business thrives. In the meantime, Bjarne has to deal with his twin brother who has been in coma for years following a gruesome car accident.

The Green Butchers

2003

The Green Butchers poster
7.1

Svend and Bjarne work for a butcher in a small Danish town. Fed up with their boss' arrogance, they decide to start their own butcher shop. After dismal beginnings, an unfortunate accident happens which coincides with a large order of meat. One hasty decision leads to another and soon the business thrives. In the meantime, Bjarne has to deal with his twin brother who has been in coma for years following a gruesome car accident.

The Green Butchers

2003

Open Hearts poster
7.1

Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.

Open Hearts

2002

Love Is All You Need poster
6.0

Ida, a Danish hairdresser who has lost her hair to cancer, returns home from the hospital one day to find her husband is cheating on her. She decides to travel to Italy on her own for her daughter's wedding, but discovers on arriving that the wedding gathering will present its own challenges.

Love Is All You Need

2012

Murk poster
6.2

The psychological thriller "Murk" tells the story of Jacob, who is investigating into the circumstances surrounding his sister's death on her wedding night.

Murk

2005

Men & Chicken poster
6.5

Men & Chicken is a black comedy about two outcast brothers who, by getting to know their unknown family, discover a horrible truth about themselves and their relatives.

Men & Chicken

2015

Men & Chicken poster
6.5

Men & Chicken is a black comedy about two outcast brothers who, by getting to know their unknown family, discover a horrible truth about themselves and their relatives.

Men & Chicken

2015

Café Hector poster
7.5

Café Hector is the new in-place for the chic, high-flying, articulate jet-set, where steaming cups of cappuccino accompany their trendy chit-chat. Uffe is definitely not "in." He can't get a cappuccino, but he is given permission, just this once, to use the toilet. But Uffe is prepared for the situation. He can't take any more humiliation and he is armed!

Café Hector

1996

In a Better World poster
7.2

The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.

In a Better World

2010

The Shamer's Daughter poster
5.8

The Shamer's daughter, Dina, has unwillingly inherited her mother's supernatural ability. She can look straight into the soul of other people. When the sole heir to the throne is wrongfully accused of the horrible murders of his family, it is up to Dina to uncover the truth, but soon she finds herself whirled into a dangerous power struggle with her own life at risk.

The Shamer's Daughter

2015

In China They Eat Dogs poster
7.3

Arvid is an ordinary bank clerk who lives a rather unassuming life with his dear girlfriend. But his life is turned completely upside down when he bravely manages to avert a robbery against the bank where he works.

In China They Eat Dogs

1999

Mifune poster
7.0

Kresten, newly wed, is on the threshold of a great career success in his father-in-law’s company. But when the death of his own father takes him back to his poverty-stricken childhood home, far out in the country, his career plans fall apart. For one thing he has to deal with his loveable, backward brother, who is now all alone; for another, he meets a stunning woman who comes to the farm as a housekeeper, in disguise of her real profession as a call-girl.

Mifune

1999

Flickering Lights poster
7.2

Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.

Flickering Lights

2000