The current CEO of Copenhagen Film Festivals, including CPH:DOX, will be joining the high-profile film school in May.
Fischer’s appointment was announced Monday by the Danish Culture Minister Joy Mogensen who said:”The film school is a hotbed for Danish film. This is where film talents and films of the future emerge, for which we are known throughout the world. Tine Fischer has worked in film and art all her life, and with her at the helm, the Film School is in strong and innovative hands.”
Fischer has worked in various positions in the film and media industry across development, production, distribution and talent development. She founded CPH: DOX in 2003 and has since served as artistic director and director of the festival. In 2018, she was promoted as managing director of the Copenhagen Film Festivals Foundation, which also includes CPH PIX and BUSTER children's film festival.
She will leave her current position after CPH:DOX’s 18th edition running April 21-May 2nd 2021.
Fischer said: “Needless to say, it’s been a difficult decision for me to leave the festivals…I’m confident that CPH:DOX will continue to play an important role as a leading festival in a vibrant global documentary community in the years to come. The role of film festivals is changing as we speak, just as I see the role of film schools undergoing a parallel renewal. I’m now discussing with my board how I can keep my engagement with the festivals in the future in the best possible way."
The state-run National Film School of Denmark has been under the helm of interim CEO Bo Damgaard since the forced resignation of Vinca Wiedemann in 2019, triggered by a student strike and protest against the increased academization of the school's practice-based form of education.
Speaking about the school’s turbulent times, Fischer said: “The school has been through a difficult year, and I arrive with the utmost humility and respect for the great commitment the students have shown. They have fought to maintain a practice-based artistic school, and I am truly looking forward to working with the ambition and energy that was tied to that artistic-based commitment,” she said.
Founded in 1966, the National Film School of Denmark offers a mix of practical and academic teaching across its eight programmes in scriptwriting, sound, editing, fiction directing, documentary directing, animation and games directing, cinematography, and film producing.
The annual intake of students - fluent in Danish - is around 100.
Some of the most celebrated Danish talents were trained at the film school, such as Golden Globe nominated directors Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round), Susanne Bier (The Unknown), Tobias Lindholm (co-writer of Another Round, director of the TV2 hit series The Investigation), and Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize winning screenwriter Maja Jul Larsen (Cry Wolf).