Peter Hesse Overgaard Movies

Danish director Niels Arden Oplev helmed and co-scripted (with Steen Bille) the gritty, revisionist coming-of-age tale We Shall Overcome - the story of a young boy's crusade against tyrannical oppression, and the thematic and temporal intersection of his experiences with the American Civil Rights movement. The story opens in the Danish countryside of 1969, when Peder Johansen (Jens Jorn Spottag), the father of 13-year-old Frits (Janus Dissing Rathke) experiences a psychotic breakdown and is promptly dragged off to a mental hospital. Frits spends the following summer watching the international news reports of the U.S. Civil Rights crusades. Those impressions stay in Frits's memory and inspire him that next fall, when he enrolls as a student at a boarding school ruled with an iron fist by the sadistic, oppressive headmaster Lindum-Svendsen (Bent Mejding). When the latter catches Frits spying on a pretty female classmate in the girls' locker room, and punishes him by ripping off half of one ear, it not only infuriates and humiliates Frits, but ignites the fire of indignation in his parents. The Johansens hire an attorney and take legal proceedings against Lindum-Svendsen. During the following weeks, they realize that nothing is beneath the sociopathic headmaster; his activities include withdrawing Frits from classes and manipulating the court trial by having Peder proven mentally incompetent. But nothing can stop The Johansens' fight for justice. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This Danish-Swedish-Norwegian film takes place off the coast of Denmark in the mid-18th Century. In 1760, timid 25-year-old pastor Poul (Lars Simonsen) arrives to serve at the rainswept Faroe Islands community of Torshavn where parishioners tell him about the scandalous behavior of young Barbara Christina Sallin (Anneke von der Lippe). Eventually, despite warnings, Poul marries her. When Barbara enters into an affair with a student from Copenhagen, Poul is pressured to prosecute his own wife for the crime of fornication. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Based on the 1932 novel Mendel Philipsen and Son by Henri Nathansen, Sofie was adapted for the screen by celebrated actress Liv Ullmann, making her directorial debut. Beginning in Copenhagen during the late 1880s, Sofie (Karen-Lise Mynster) is a devoted Jewish daughter who falls in love with the Gentile painter Hojby (Jesper Christensen). Her parents, Semmy (Erland Josephson) and Frederikke (Ghita Nørby), don't approve of the relationship, so they encourage her to marry her mentally ill cousin, a Swedish shopkeeper named Jonas (Torben Zeller). She gives birth to a son, but their already loveless marriage becomes further complicated when Sofie develops an interest in her brother-in-law Gottleib (Stig Hoffmeyer). Jonas is inconsolable after the death of his mother (Kirsten Rolffes), so much so that Sofie has him institutionalized and takes over his business. Years later, Sofie returns to Copenhagen with her son to help her aging parents and attend an auction where she reunites with Hojby. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

In this wry comedy, the self-deceiving exploits of Lasse (Peter Hesse Overgaard), are shown, as he more or less innocently runs small cons on the people in his life, all the while sponging off of his girlfriend in a bohemian quarter of Copenhagen. He is a no-count, but fairly handsome young stud who imagines that he is some sort of art promoter, or is perhaps even a video artist himself. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

When their special place in the woods in threatened by an evil real estate developer, seven school kids put aside their differences to fight for the forest. They enlist the help of a human fairy queen to stop the proposed housing project. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this children's movie, a grade-school girl and her friends entertain various dreams of the future. One longs to be a veterinarian and marry Michael Jackson, the others dream of having babies, on the condition that the boys take care of them. When the girls are unhappy, they do some very mean things to one another. Happily, in this film, that doesn't happen often. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The friendship between two very different men is explored in this psychological drama about John and René (Michael Ehlert Falch), the latter being a tormented loner haunted by the certainty that his wealthy father is responsible for the death of his mother. René has turned to drink and anti-social behavior to assuage his demons. John (Peter Hesse Overgaard) is one of the main operators of a local power plant who likes to listen to classical music and takes care of wounded or sick birds when he is not working. Just as the two men are learning to appreciate the good (and different) qualities in each other, a woman appears on the scene and John is drawn to her -- but not enough to end his relationship with René and avoid the inevitable disaster that seems to lie ahead if his friend does not change his ways. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide