PRAMI LARSEN

I was born in 1957 in a suburb of Copenhagen. Technically I grew up as an only child as my youngest brother was seven years older than me. I had three brothers and one sister. The town was lazy but safe and calm. I had three friends as neighbours and the school was nearby. Denmark got richer after the war and my siblings got jealous as I had the money and toys they never had.

My father had made a living as a stills photographer and he was a talented singer and musician. He gave me a stills camera, a Super8 camera and a ukulele to encourage me in activities he had enjoyed. And I was introduced to the worlds of art and music. My youngest brother and my sister introduced me to The Cream, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix… and hash.

After some years with Super8 film production I focused on music from the age of 15 until I was 20. I knew I wanted to be a film director at that point in my life. But I was urged to take an academic degree instead of following my artistic drive.

I made an eight year long detour in the academic world studying communication and Danish literature. I went back to film making the day I finished my thesis.

From 1985 I directed documentaries and shorts, wrote scripts, helped other filmmakers as a script editor and earned money editing films and writing reports. The most internationally known film I have worked on is Carl Th. Dreyer – My Metier.

In 1988 I met the woman who was to become the mother of my daughter. From 1993 I became a father and my life changed. In 1995 I got the position I hold now as head of the Film Workshop at the Danish Film Institute. In 1996 we divorced and I met my present wife, who is by the way British. In 2005 we adopted a boy from Vietnam. And my life changed again.

My professional life is woven into the company biography.