Tree of Knowledge is a 1981 Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 coming-of-age drama directed by Nils Malmros

Nils Malmros

Nils Malmros , a Danish film director and screenwriter, is considered a leading auteur of realism in Danish cinema. Malmros is noted for his detailed focus on the common growing pains of adolescence and the loss of innocence, which he draws from his childhood experiences growing up in Århus, Denmark...

. The film details the lives of 17 teenage schoolmates in 1950's Denmark. Shooting on location at the high school which he had attended, Malmros took two years to film the action, so the cast members reflected the real life physical and emotional development of their characters. Film Critic Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote "The Tree of Knowledge is the truest and most moving film I have ever seen about the experience of puberty... a creative act of memory about exactly what it was like to be 13 in 1953." Despite critical praise, Tree of Knowledge received only two awards: the Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Jan Weincke's cinematography and the Audience Award at the Lübeck Nordic Film Festival. Tree of Knowledge is one of the top 100 Danish films listed by the Danish Film Institute

Danish Film Institute

The Danish Film Institute is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest....

 and is one of ten films listed in the cultural canon of Denmark by the Danish Ministry of Culture

Culture Minister of Denmark

Culture Minister of Denmark is the Danish political minister office responsible for culture, head of the Ministry of Culture of Denmark.The political responsibility for culture, as well as church and education, was with the Kultus Minister from 1848 to 1916 when that post was split up into the...

. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...

 section at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival

1982 Cannes Film Festival

- Jury :*Giorgio Strehler *Jean-Jacques Annaud *Suso Cecchi d'Amico *Geraldine Chaplin *Gabriel García Márquez *Florian Hopf *Sidney Lumet *Mrinal Sen...

.

Cast

Actor	Role
Eva Gram Schjoldager Eva Gram Schjoldager Eva Gram Schjoldager is a Danish actress and child star. In 1981, Shjoldager received international attention for her leading role as the bullied schoolgirl, Elin, in Nils Malmros's coming-of-age drama Tree of Knowledge...	Elin
Jan Johansen Jan Johansen Jan Christian Johansen is a Swedish singer. His father is jazz musician Egil Johansen and his mother is Ellen Böback. He represented Sweden at the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest with "Se på mej" and finished third with 100 points...	Niels-Ole
Line Arlien-Søborg Line Arlien-Søborg Line Arlien-Søborg is a Danish actress and film director. In 1981, Arlien-Søborg first received attention for her role as the conniving schoolgirl, Anne-Mette, in Nils Malmros's coming-of-age drama Tree of Knowledge...	Anne-Mette
Marian Wendelbo	Elisabeth
Gitte Iben Andersen	Lene
Brian Theibel	Willy Bonde
Erno Müller	Class Teacher
Merete Volstedlund	Anne-Mettes Mother
Karin Flensborg	Elin's Mother
Knud Andreasen	Elin's Father
Lone Elliot	Maj-Britt
Astrid Holm Nielsen	Ina
Bo von der Lippe	Jørn
Morten Nautrup	Flemming
Martin Lysholm Jepsen	Helge
Anders Ørgård	Gert
Dan Rørmand Brøgger	Torkild
Lars Spang Kjeldsen	Søren Roland
Nikolaj Flensborg	Kaj
Hanne Sørensen	Mona
Anne-Mette Brinch Andersen	Gås
Anne-Mette Kjøller Warlo	Joan
Malene Darre	Loppe
Lars Hjort Frederiksen	Carsten
Karen Møller	Mrs. Andreasen
Jørgen Nygaard	Pastor
Arne Ringgaard	Dance Teacher
Thorkild Tromholt	Pianist
Rikke Malmros	Gym Teacher
Uffe Bak	Gym Teacher
Norma Nissen	Mrs Scheel
Svend Schmidt-Nielsen	Park Ranger
Per Cortes	Music Teacher
Birgit Rafman
Margit Due
Christian Svendsen Christian Svendsen Christian Valdemar Svendsen was a Danish gymnast who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.He was part of the Danish team, which won the bronze medal in the gymnastics men's team, free system event.-External links:*...
Jeanette Hede
Jørg Bjerre Andersen

External links

• IMDb
• Kundskabens træ, at Den Danske Film Database (In Danish)
• Kundskabens træ Det Danske Filminstitut (In Danish)