About carlthdreyer.dk

BY LISBETH RICHTER LARSEN

Below you will find brief descriptions of the content and functions in the website’s four sections: Films, About Dreyer, Gallery and Dreyer's Archive. 

FILMS

Here you will find a complete overview of Dreyer’s films, in chronological order. Select lists by Dreyer’s function, plus separate overviews of his features and short films. The entry on each film includes complete credits, stills, the poster, the film programme, scripts and selected reviews. Read about a film’s plot, production and reception, plus read newspaper reviews and articles on the literary sources for Dreyer’s screenplays and find more background knowledge.

At carlthdreyer.dk we have consistently used the films’ original titles, i.e., The Passion of Joan of Arc is La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc. If you’re not sure about the original title, you can always search by the English title.

You will also find a list of other projects Dreyer worked on (the list is incomplete). Some of his ideas/screenplays were later realised by other directors. Dreyer’s screenplays for those projects will be made available as they are scanned.

Finally, there is a list of the awards and honours Dreyer and his films received. 

ABOUT DREYER

Here you will find roughly 35 original articles about Dreyer and his work, along with a number of previously published pieces, available as PDF-files. For convenience, we have organised the articles under six headings: 

  • Biography (Dreyer’s life and work, plus an overview of the recipients of the Carl Th. Dreyer Award and an extensive  bibliography)

  • People (people Dreyer surrounded himself with – technicians, actors, et al.)

  • Places (companies and institutions Dreyer worked with throughout his career)

  • Method (personal accounts of Dreyer’s filmmaking, as well as analyses and discussions of his working methods)

  • Themes (discussions and analyses of the content of Dreyer’s films)

  • Visual style (Dreyer as a maker of images – camera work, production design, editing, etc.)

Under this menu item, you will also find a map (under construction, and in Danish only - to be translated), showing where Dreyer lived and where he travelled in the world. Furthermore, there is a bibliography, including works "wholly" on Dreyer and his films. Accordingly, this is not a complete bibliography, as anthologies, periodical articles, etc., have not been included.

GALLERY

This is the website’s combined art space and cinema, showcasing all the visual materials on carlthdreyer.dk. View stills from all of Dreyer’s films, film posters, portrait shots, photographs of selected objects, film clips from his 14 features, all of his short films in full, documentaries on Dreyer, interviews and much more.

DREYER'S ARCHIVE

Under this menu item it is possible to directly search the extensive Carl Th. Dreyer Collection. At the website’s launch in June 2010, the database included approx. 2,200 archive entries, though the number of actual documents is much higher. The collection is currently being catalogued.