Tree of Knowledge (film)

Tree of Knowledge
Front cover of the Danish DVD for
Tree of Knowledge
Directed byNils Malmros
Written byNils Malmros
Frederick Cryer
Produced byPer Holst
StarringEva Gram Schjoldager
Jan Johansen
Line Arlien-Søborg
CinematographyJan Weincke
Edited byMerete Brusendorff
Janus Billeskov Jansen [ar; arz; da; de; fr; sv]
Music byPer Hillers Danseorkester
Saratoga Jazzband
Distributed byKærne Film
Release date
  • 13 November 1981 (1981-11-13)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryDenmark
LanguageDanish

Tree of Knowledge (Danish: Kundskabens træ) is a 1981 Danish coming-of-age drama directed by Nils Malmros. The film details the lives of 17 teenage schoolmates in 1950s Denmark. Shooting on location at the high school which he had attended, Malmros took two years to film the action, so the cast members reflected the real-life physical and emotional development of their characters.[1]

Despite critical praise, Tree of Knowledge received only two awards: the Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Jan Weincke's cinematography,[2] and the Audience Award at the Lübeck Nordic Film Festival. Tree of Knowledge is one of the top 100 Danish films listed by the Danish Film Institute and is one of ten films listed in the cultural canon of Denmark by the Danish Ministry of Culture.[3]

The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival[4] and was selected as the Danish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[5]

  1. ^ "Kundskabens Træ". Archived from the original on 16 November 2008.
  2. ^ Kosmorama. Danske Filmmuseum. 1997. p. 192. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Kulturkanon". Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  4. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Tree of Knowledge". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
  5. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences