Peter Elfelt

Infobox actor
name = Peter Elfelt

|200px
caption = Self-made photograph of Peter Elfelt
birthdate = 1 January, 1866
birthplace = Copenhagen, Denmark
deathdate = 18 February, 1931
deathplace = Copenhagen, Denmark
othername =
occupation = Photographer
Film director
yearsactive = 1893–1907
imdb_id =0253298

Peter Elfelt (1866–1931) was a Danish photographer and film director known as the first film pioneer in Denmark when he began making documentary movies in 1897.

Biography

Peter Elfelt was born Peter Lars Petersen in Denmark on January 1, 1866. (He changed his name to Elfelt when he began making films.) [ [http://www.stumfilm.no/elfelt_biografi.html|"Fru Anna Larssen I Sit Paaklædningsværelse"] , København Avis, January 1901, retrieved 2008-05-27 from Stumfilm Website] He apprenticed in photography in Hillerød in 1893 with the photographer Carl Rathsack. He also studied with the camera builder Jens Poul Andersen. In 1893, Elfelt opened his own atelier in Copenhagen with his two brothers as his assistants. As his photographic skills became appreciated, his business flourished and by 1901 Elfelt was named "Kongelige Hoffotograf" (Royal Court Photographer). [cite web
title = Peter Elfelt
publisher = Danish Film Institute
url = http://dnfx.dfi.dk/pls/dnf/pwt.page_setup?p_pagename=dnfnavn&p_parmlist=navneid=129181]

During a trip to Paris in 1896, Elfelt obtained a set of detailed "Cinematographe" plans from the french inventor Jules Carpentier He had a film camera constructed by Jens Poul Andersen. In the beginning of 1897, he shot the first Danish film — a one minute sequence called "Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde" ("Traveling with Greenlandic Dogs"). During the following 15 years, he made short nature films and news reels about the Danish royal family. Elfelt shot almost 200 short films in all.

In 1903 Elfelt filmed his only drama. The short film, titled "Henrettelsen" ("Capital Execution"), was the the first fiction film made in Denmark. Based upon the actual execution of a french woman who murdered her 10 children, it starred the singer Francesca Nathansen and was filmed in the arcade of the Christiansborg Castle. There is some doubt whether the film was ever shown in public. When Elfelt was asked in 1926 if he had ever filmed a drama, he remembered being reluctant about this film. cquote|For one to think of showing this murder in living pictures - a horrible idea. I was absolutely not taken by it.|30px|30px|Peter Elfelt|"Filmen" June 7 1926 Tybjerg, Casper, "100 Års Dansk Film", Rosinante, 2001, pg 18 ]

Elfelt also shot the first advertising film. There is a 1904 example which advertises Bock beer for the Svenborg Brewery. Elfelt opened the "København Kinoptikon" movie theater in 1901. Although Elfelt was Denmark's first pioneer of filmmaking, he considered film as secondary to his work as a photographer. [McKernan, Luke, cite web | title = Peter Elfelt | publisher = Who's Who of Victorian Cinema: A Worldwide Survey, BFI Publishing, 1996 | url = http://www.victorian-cinema.net/elfelt.htm] [Ole Brage (ed.), Danmarks Radio Praesenterer Elfelt Film (Copenhagen: Danmarks Radio, 1975)] [Marguerite Engberg, Dansk Stumfilm I (Copenhagen: Rhodos Forlag, 1977)] Elfelt died on February 18, 1931.

Filmography

*"Kørsel med Grønlandske Hunde" (1897)
*"Kongelige skal fotograferes" (1899)
*"Kejserinde Dagmars Ankomst til Helsingør" (1900)
*"Czar Nikolai II's Ankomst til Helsingør" (1901)
*"Dronning Alexandras Ankomst til Toldboden" (1902)
*"Kejserinde Dagmars Ankomst til Bellevue" (1902)
*"Kong Christian IX modtager Storhertug Friedrich-Franz af Mecklenburg Schwerin" (1903)
*"Sylfiden" (1903)
*"Tarantellen af Napoli" (1903)
*"Kongejagt paa Hveen" (1903)
*"Prinsesse Marie til Hest" (1903)
*"De Kongelige paa Cykler i Fredensborg Slotsgaard" (1903)
*"Henrettelsen" (1903)
*"Kejser Wilhelms Ankomst til København" (1903)
*"Ribe Domkirkes indvielse" (1904)
*"Daniel Dalsgaards Kaffeforretning" (1904)
*"Zigeunerdans af Troubaduren" (1906)
*"Skiløb. Holmenkollen" (1906)
*"Kong Haakons Besøg paa "Herluf Trolle" (1906)
*"Orfeus og Eurydike" (1906)
*"Livjægerne paa Amager" (1906)
*"Kong Frederik VIII's Proklamation" (1906)
*"Islands Altings Besøg i København" (1906)
*"Kong Frederik VIII's Ankomst til Berlin" (1907)

References

External links

* [http://dnfx.dfi.dk/pls/dnf/pwt.page_setup?p_pagename=dnfnavn&p_parmlist=navneid=129181 Peter Elfelt] at Det Danske Filmistitut (in Danish)
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0253298 Peter Elfelt] at IMDb
* [http://www.victorian-cinema.net/elfelt.htm Peter Elfelt] in Who's Who of Victorian Cinema