what he did
Crime story or love story? In 1988 Jens Michael Schau killed his life partner and fellow writer Christian Kampmann in the heat of passion. The media picked up the story because Christian was a famous writer in Denmark. Though Jens has long since served his sentence he still hides in his flat like a shy animal for fear of disturbing people by his mere presence. But the time has come for him, too: his story – the one behind the tragedy – must out. Protected by his own four walls Jens starts to engage with the camera, circling it hesitantly, always wary of himself. The director’s cautious questions from off-screen open a gateway to the past: an unconditional love which was also the psychology major’s coming out and the break with his conservative family.
The trip back through time to the liberal homosexual Copenhagen of the 70s and 80s ends in an emotional maelstrom of separation anxiety, jealousy and writer’s envy. Jens’s long overdue return to society plays out on two levels: the words he forces himself to say are reflected in the rehearsals for an autobiographical play. Jonas Poher Rasmussen in turn uses the actors to formulate his own questions about the subject: how can this story be told at all – and how do you live with it?
Watch an interview with the director here:
PROJECT
Title: What he Did
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Producer: Jesper Jack
Cinematograher: Nadim Carlsen
Editor: Anders Skov
Sound: Martin Juel Dirkov
Screenplay: Jonas Poher Rasmussen Jesper Bræstrup Karlsen
Starring: Anders Budde Christensen as Jens Michael Schau and Nicolai Jandorf Klok as Christian Kampman
Sales agents: Taskovski Films
Platforms: Film, Theatre play, installation.
Partners: The theatre Mungo Park
STATUS: World premiere CPH:DOX 2015, Winner of the International Federation of Critics Award, The Fipresci Prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2016 - Best film in the international competition, DokFilm, Hot Docs, Queer Lisboa - Lisbon Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
