I Hope I'm the Sickest!

"What? Medical records? I did not even know that," says Michael Noer, when I asked him how he feels when his film is screened in a category whose Finnish name could be translated as "medical records" or "sick stories" (in the programme, the category is called Case Records from Denmark.)

After thinking about it for a while, he gets excited.

"Now I'm more than ever pleased that I have been chosen to participate in the film festival. I Hope I'm the sickest," he laughs.

Danish director Michael Noer thinks that Danes themselves killed the dogma film by using it too much. "Dogma should be combined with aesthetics, that is the future of the cinema."

Among others, Noer has been inspired by director Ulrich Seidl, whose works often depict persons that are difficult to understand, for example, persons that are sick or who have mental problems. Noer is attracted to difficult cases, though even he is scared of them at first. Documentary film Underneath the skin depicts the life of Ole Ege, a former director of pornographic films. Many Danes see the man as a monster, but Noer found a consuming love in him. It was the fulfilment of his search.

"I used to film women, because they were my obsession. Love is my obsession. Nowadays I film men; I have my own love-hate relationship with men because of my father. Filmmaking is one type of therapy. The film has to have tension, and it comes naturally when you use personal subject."

During the filming of Ole Ege, the tension was born from the interaction between the director and the subject. Noer takes filming seriously, and understands that he cannot be in total control of it. Sometimes during the filming Ege wanted to start drinking, and then Noer joined him. He wanted to be fully part of the process, and not just follow the trail of a lonely man.

"That to me is real filmmaking. I want to be there and experience it all in order to convey the right picture to the audience."

Case Records from Denmark 2 will be screened at 20.00 on Saturday.