Phie Ambo and Pernille Rose Grønkjær - The Center for New Global Narratives
We live in a time when, more than ever before, there is a need for a language to address the significant global challenges. The world requires new narratives to facilitate the essential transformation we are facing. The conventional way of describing crises through drama and fear as the driving force may have an immediate emotional impact, but it does not bring about real change.
Period: March 1, 2023 - February 1, 2025.
With this KUV project, the documentary filmmakers Phie Ambo and Pernille Rose Grønkjær will take the initial steps towards the establishment of the Center for New Global Narratives at the National Film School of Denmark. Phie Ambo and Pernille Rose Grønkjær have been working on issues related to the climate crisis, the role of science in society, and humanity's relationship with nature and its surroundings for over a decade. Through this center, they aim to explore and discuss the connection between storytelling and behavioral change, focusing on narratives about the climate and biodiversity crises as an untapped catalyst for transformation. They emphasize that film and games, as narrative art forms, can play a pivotal role by providing a language to initiate conversations, stimulate reflection, and encourage both thought and action. In doing so, they aim to make us all a part of the solution rather than the problem.
The project also investigates sustainable production methods and, in this context, has established an action-think-tank with representatives from fiction film, documentary film, games, and animation. In the action-think-tank, experiences and knowledge are gathered and shared. Through concrete projects, the aim is to map out how green production looks in practice, with the ambition of collecting information that can serve as the basis for a ‘Green Production’ label. This label is intended to function as a green guideline and, at the same time, fuel the discussion about green production within the film and game industry as a whole.
Photo credit: Torsten Høgh Rasmussen
Phie Ambo
Phie Ambo is a documentary filmmaker who graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2003. She is known for her feature-length documentary films, which adhere to a poetic, personal, and cinematic tradition. Over the past decade, Ambo has primarily focused on the climate and biodiversity crisis.
In addition to her work as a director, Phie is also a teacher, researcher, and the initiator of the Center for New Global Narratives at the National Film School of Denmark.
Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Pernille Rose Grønkjær is a graduate of the National Film School of Denmark and a member of The Oscar Academy - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is an award-winning film director and executive producer. She was one of the co-founders of Danish Documentary Production.
Her film ‘The Monastery – Mr. Vig and the Nun’ (2006) received numerous accolades, including the Joris Ivens Award at IDFA, The Cinema Eye Award, and 11 other international awards. Grønkjær has also directed films such as 'Love Addict' (2011), the award-winning 'Genetic Me' (2014), and 'Comedian Mind' (2017), which received 10 out of 5-star reviews in Danish newspapers.
In early 2019, her film 'Hunting for Hedonia' had its premiere, and it was the opening film for the CPH:DOX Science program. She collaborated with the Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, who provided the film's narration. Her film 'SOLUTIONS' premiered in 2021 at CPH:DOX as the opening film for the CPH:DOX Science program.
