Scene 1: Hollywood in Avedøre
The location is a disused barracks in Avedøre, a suburb in the southern outskirts of Copenhagen best known for its power station. The former barracks, with variously sized buildings dating from different eras, have been turned into Filmbyen – “Movie City” – an enclave of companies with ties to the movie industry, among them Zentropa. There is absolutely nothing glamorous about Denmark’s Hollywood on a grey winter’s day like today. We find the headquarters of Scandinavia’s largest film production company in a faceless, unmarked building.

Scene 2: Pool and pissing gnomes
Zentropa’s managing director, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, shows us around Filmbyen, sporting a red padded jacket and a mug of vending machine coffee. “That’s our combined swimming pool and pool for underwater shoots,” he says, pointing in the direction of the covered pool next to the reception. “It’s unheated because Lars von Trier feels compelled to take a cold bath every day. I only jump into it after a sauna session.” The managing director’s predilection for nude bathing has attracted much press publicity over the years, as has the small group of garden gnomes on the lawn opposite. The “pissing gnomes” were used as a urinal at one time. “A large US company gave them to us, and back then there  weren’t many toilets out here. So we decided we might as well piss on the big capitalists,” says Aalbæk. A decision of which Catherine Deneuve was blissfully unaware when, during the shooting of “Dancer in the Dark”, she noticed that one of the darling gnomes had toppled over and stood it up again – or so the story goes. Another great press publicity opportunity.

Scene 3: Creative camping
Our tour continues to the village of ten classic camping huts. “The creative souls can sit here in solitary peace and quiet,” Aalbæk explains, referring to the scriptwriters and directors who regularly work for Zentropa. Many of Zentropa’s employees are freelancers, but the company also employs between 80 and 100 permanent members of staff. Some started out by taking the company’s three-year training program, which gives a broad introduction to movie production. “After three years, we throw them out, but some of them return. We’ve known many of our managers since they were young, self-absorbed amateurs.”

Scene 4: Tank against competitors
In the center of a large square stands an ex-service tank on a concrete mound. “That’s our beloved tank. The canon used to be aimed at Nordisk Film in Valby, but we’ve now turned it towards Munich, where our major German competitors are based,” says Aalbæk. Zentropa has put increasing focus on international activities in recent years, establishing production facilities in Germany, Poland, Sweden and France, and lately Norway as well. The main reason for selling a 50 pct. stakeholding of the company to Nordisk Film in 2008 was to raise capital for the growing number of cross-border productions. “Our international succes generated a need for huge budgets that we could not meet ourselves. For example, three of our movies were shortlisted for the main competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival – a Danish, a Swedish and a German. No other film company has ever topped that!” Aalbæk announces proudly.

Scene 5: Communist editing
At the end of the editing corridor, embellished with famous quotations by Chairman Mao, is the screening movie theater. This is where the finished movies are screened for a select audience before being launched on the market. And the marriage with the polar bear in Valby has enhanced the market opportunities. “Nordisk Film sells and distributes our movies, and havingsome real businesspeople to bat ideas off is a good way of making sure things don’t get too flaky. There’s no lack of creative spirit out here,” says Peter Aalbæk, famous himself for acting the role of movie businessman, complete with tux, cigar and flamboyant gestures.