Jørgen Leth

Jørgen Leth was born 1937 in Århus, Denmark. He studied literature and anthropology in Aarhus and Copenhagen and was a cultural critic (jazz, theatre, film) for leading Danish newspapers from 1959 to 1968. His interest in Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski had a profound influence on his work. He travelled in Africa (1961), South America and India (1966) and Southeast Asia (1970–71). His first book was published in 1962 and he has written 10 volumes of poetry and eight non-fiction books. He made his first film in 1963 and has since made 40 more, many distributed worldwide. His most acclaimed is a 1967 short, The Perfect Human, which also featured in the 2003 film The Five Obstructions made by Leth and Lars von Trier. Leth's sports documentaries bring an epic, almost mythic, dimension to the field, as seen in Stars and Watercarriers/Stjernerne og Vandbærerne (1973) and A Sunday in Hell/En forårsdag i helvede (1977).
He has been a creative consultant for the Danish Film Institute (1971–73, 1975–77) as well as chairman of the Institute's board (1977–82). He has also been a professor at the Danish National Film School in Copenhagen, at the State Studiocenter in Oslo and has lectured at UCLA, Berkeley, Harvard and other American universities.
Leth covered the Tour de France for Denmark's TV 2 from 1988 until 2005 as the expert commentator in partnership with journalist Jørn Mader. In 1999, he was appointed Danish honorary consul in Haiti. He has lived in Jacmel, Haiti since 1991.
You can see Truls Lie's film The Seduced Human about Leth at DAFilm.com

Filmography:

Stopforbud/ Stop for Bud (12´, Denmark, 1963)
Se frem til en tryg tid/ Look Forward to a Time of Security (10´, Denmark, 1964)
Det perfekte menneske/ The Perfect Human (12´, Denmark, 1967)
Ofelias blomster/ Ophelia's Flowers (7´, Denmark, 1968)
Nar himlen, nar jorden/ Near Heaven, Near Earth - together with Ole John (26´, Denmark, 1968)
Jens Otto Krag (18´, Denmark, 1969)
Dyrehavefilmen/ The Deer Garden (5´, Denmark, 1969)
Motion Picture (20´, Denmark, 1970)
Eftersogningen/ The Search (36´, Denmark, 1970)
Dyrehaven: Den romantiske skov/ The Deer Garden: The Romantic Forest - with Per Kirkeby (39´,
enmark, 1970)
Frandelos/ Without Kin (66´, Denmark, 1970)
Livet i Danmark/ Life in Denmark (Denmark, 1971)
Kinesisk bordtennis/ Chinese Ping-Pong (14´, Denmark, 1972)
Eddy Merckx i narheden af en kop kaffe/ Eddy Merckx in the Vicinity of a Cup of Coffee (29´,
enmark, 1973)
Stjernerne og vandbarerne/ The Stars and the Water Carriers (91´, Denmark, 1974)
Klaus Rifbjerg (22´, Denmark, 1974)
Den umulige time/ The Impossible Hour (45´, Denmark, 1974)
Det gode og det onde/ The Good and the Bad (78´, Denmark, 1975)
En forårsdag i Helvede/ A Sunday in Hell (111´, Denmark, 1976)
Kalule (57´, Denmark, 1979)
At danse Bournonville (52´, Denmark, 1979)
Step on Silence (58´, Denmark/USA, 1982)
66 scener fra Amerika/ 66 Scenes from America (42´, Denmark, 1982)
Udenrigskorrespondenten/ Haiti Express (105´, Denmark, 1983)
Notater fra Kina/ Notebook from China (79´, Denmark, 1986)
Det legende menneske/ Moments of Play (77´, Denmark, 1986)
Notater om kærligheden/ Notes on Love (91´, Denmark, 1989)
Traberg (90´, Denmark, 1992)
Michael Laudrup - en fodboldspiller/ Michael Laudrup: A Football Player (74´, Denmark, 1993)
Haiti. Uden titel/ Haiti. Untitled (82´, Denmark, 1996)
Jeg er levende - Søren Ulrik Thomsen, digter/ I Am Alive (40´, Denmark, 1999)
Drømmere/ Dreamers (58´, Denmark, 2002)
Nye scener fra Amerika/ New Scenes from America (35´, Denmark, 2003)
De fem benspænd/ The Five Obstructions (90´, Denmark/Belgium/France/Switzerland, 2003)
Aarhus (28´, Denmark, 2005)¨