Movies by Katia Forbert

Katia Forbert Petersen is a visionary Polish-Danish filmmaker whose striking visual style and keen social conscience have made her one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Scandinavian cinema. Drawing on her background as a cinematographer, Forbert brings a painterly eye to her work, crafting films that are both visually sumptuous and thematically profound. Whether exploring the personal lives of ordinary people, as in the intimate drama En fremmed piges dagbog (1989), or grappling with larger sociopolitical issues, as in the thought-provoking documentaries Behind the Mountains (2004) and My Iranian Paradise (2008), Forbert's films are unified by their empathetic, humanistic approach. She has a remarkable talent for capturing the nuances of human behavior and emotion, infusing even her most challenging subject matter with a deep well of compassion. Forbert's work has also been shaped by her collaborative relationship with the legendary Danish director Lars von Trier, for whom she served as cinematographer on the groundbreaking film Von Trier's 100 Eyes (2000). This experience has clearly influenced her own directorial approach, which shares von Trier's fascination with the intersection of the personal and the political, and his willingness to experiment with form in service of his thematic concerns. Forbert is a filmmaker of immense depth and vision, one whose work deserves to be celebrated and explored by cinephiles the world over.