Side 14-31 PDF - Out & About

Films in the Night TEKST:
Rock Hudson is the cover star of
the 15th annual Night Film Festival
in Copenhagen
Though the dark winter hours draw to an end
thousands of Danes still prefer the dark and the
indoor for a couple of more weeks. The darkness
of the cinema that is. Going on for it’s 15th
season the annual NatFilmfestival (Night Film
Festival) is one of the most popular happenings
in Copenhagen. With hundreds of movies categorised
in different series the festival presents
fi lms from all over the world for both the picky
cineaste and the regular moviegoer.
Each year the festival selects a cover star that
gets his own chapter in the program. This year’s
cover- and movie star is the American actor Rock
Hudson, who was the incarnation of the all American
sex symbol of the puritan 50s. But behind
the eras crisp surface the dark desires lived their
own secret life. This was best shown through the
subversive melodramas of the director and fi lmmaker
Douglas Sirk, who exposed the shallowness
of the American middleclass, often starring
Hudson in the main act.
But Hudson’s talent also stretched far enough
to play all from noble gunslinger to team up with
Doris Day in some popular romantic comedies.
But behind the macho image the private Hudson
lived out his homosexuality, a well kept secret
from the public, until he as one of the fi rst came
forward to talk about the aids decease just before
it ended his life in 1985 when he was 59 years
old.
Among the retrospective of important Hudson
fi lms selected by the festival is Douglas Sirk’s
Gay
gay guide
to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
March 2004
ANDERS S. MORTENSEN
three movies: “Written on the Wind”, “All That
Heaven Allow” and “Magnifi cent Obsession”.
But also George Stevens “Giant”, where Hudson
played opposite James Dean, and Mark Rappenports
untraditional documentary “Rock Hudson’s
Home Movies” is to be seen on the big screen.
The Night Film Festival takes place in cinemas
all around Copenhagen from March the 26th
till April 11th 2004. A full printed program of
the festival is to be found all over town from
the beginning of March and also appear on the
festival’s homepage: www.natfi lm.dk
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