Casper Tybjerg

I am a film historian and particularly concerned with silent cinema and the films of Carl Theodor Dreyer. I have helped restore Dreyer’s films Once Upon a Time and Love One Another. I have recorded audio commentaries for DVD editions of La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Michael, and Day of Wrath as well as for Benjamin Christensen's Häxan and Victor Sjöström's The Phantom Carriage. I am a former member of the board of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image.

I contributed to Sight and Sound's 2012 and 2022 Greatest Films poll. Se my vote here.

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Carl Th. Dreyer, film history, film ecdotics

• The rhetoric of film historiography
• Historical films and cultural memory
• Dreyer's La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
• Benjamin Christensen and his films

Film History, Film Aesthetics, Film Analysis, Film Theory, Media History, Methodology of Film Studies

Born 1968.

• Cand.phil., Film Studies, University of Copenhagen, 1993
• Exchange study, UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), 1989-90
• Ph.D. in Film Studies, University of Copenhagen, 1997
• Cand.mag. in Film Studies and Medieaval Studies, University of Copenhagen, 2007

Employment

• Associate Professor of Film Studies, Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen, since 2000.
• Previously assistant professor at the Department (then the Department of Film and Media Studies) 1997-2000.

Management

• Head of Studies for Film and Media Studies, February 2002-September 2006.
• Member of the Academic Council for the Faculty of Humanities from 2022.

Film Restorations (with Thomas Christensen, DFI)

• Der var engang, Carl Th. Dreyer (1922), restored 2003
• Blade af Satans Bog, Carl Th. Dreyer (1920), new digital video master 2006
• Die Gezeichneten, Carl Th. Dreyer (1922), restored 2007

Public Lectures

1. “Les premiers pas du cinéma danois,” Festival international de cinéma jeune public, Laon, France, 26 March 1999
2. “The Polar Bear on Top of the World: Early Danish Cinema,” invited lecture, University of Helsinki/Finnish Film Museum, Helsinki, 6 October 2000
3. “Dreyer and Day of Wrath,” invited lecture, Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn, Estonia, 5 December 2000
4. “Om glæden ved gamle film,” lecture at the public symposium Alle disse prægtige men forgængelige film, DFI, Copenhagen, 10 January 2001
5. “Chaplin, Léger og Filmen,” Arken, Copenhagen, 19 February 2005
6. Introduction to L'Inhumaine (Marcel L'Herbier, 1924), DFI, Copenhagen, April 2005
7. “Skjulte åbenbaringer,” Tro, overtro og viden, public symposium, University of Copenhagen, 24 May 2006; Folkeuniversitet, Copenhagen, 19 March 2007.
8. “Nordisk during the Occupation,” lecture at the public symposium 100 Years of Nordisk Film, DFI, Copenhagen, 15 June 2006
9. “Dreyer as a Silent Film Maker,” lecture at the public symposium Carl Th. Dreyer, arranged by Copenhagen Film Festival, The Danish Film School, Copenhagen, 25 September 2006.
10. “Omkring Vampyr,” Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen, 31 October 2006
11. “How Dreyer Made His First Film,” invited lecture, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 28 March 2007
12. “Carl Th. Dreyer: Danskeren i Europæisk filmkunst,” Golden Days, Copenhagen, 7 September 2008.
13. Participant in panel debate on Lars Becker-Nielsen’s film The Moving Earth, History of Science Seminar, Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen, 6 March 2009.
14. “Finkulturel aura eller visuel inspiration? Filmen og malerkunsten,” invited lecture, Regionsmuseet Kristianstad, 5 November 2009.
15. “Carl Th. Dreyer: Fra stumfilm til internet,” Elers Kollegium, Copenhagen, 4 February 2010.
16. “Stumfilmens skyggekunst og sorthvide farver," Kulturnatten, University of Copenhagen, 15 October 2010.
17. “EFG som redskab for forskeren,” European Film Gateway seminar, DFI, Copenhagen, 31 August 2011.
18. “Paris - filmens hovedstad,” Alliance française, Espergærde, 25 October 2011
19. ”Film om Første Verdenskrig“, foredrag, Golden Days Festival, Copenhagen, 5 September 2014.
20. ”Det sprængte sind i tysk ekspressionisme”, lecture, Golden Days Festival, Copenhagen, 6 September 2014
21. Presentation of the film Nitrate Flames, CPH DOX Festival, Copenhagen, 8 November 2014
22. ”Carl Th. Dreyer, sa carrière, et la France”, Maison du Danemark, Paris, 10 October 2016
23. Presentation of the film Häxan, DFI, Copenhagen, 7 May 2017
24. Presentation of the film Thora van Deken, DFI, Copenhagen, 12 November 2017

Conference Presentations and Lectures

1. “Shades of the Master: Benjamin Christensen in Germany,” Schwarzer Traum und weisse Sklavin: Deutsch-dänische Filmbeziehungen 1910-1930, 6^th CineGraph international film history conference, Hamburg, 18-21 November 1993.
2. “Violent Redemption: Murderous Heroes in American Films,” The American Image, Copenhagen, 15 April 1994.
3. “Old Legends in Modern Dress: Faust in Danish Silent Film,” invited lecture for The Faustian in European Civilization, seminar arranged by Goethe-Institut & Institut français, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2 June 1995.
4. “Illusionens besjæling,” Blikk, kropp og teater: Peilinger i den visuelle kulturen i og omkring Henrik Ibsens forfatterskab, seminar, Center for Ibsen Studies, Oslo, 9-12 March 1995.
5. “Stunt-Stories: The Sensation Film Genre in Denmark,” Celebrating 1895: International conference on film before 1920, Bradford, England, 16-19 June 1995.
6. “Plasticism and Naturalism: Stage Acting and the Silent Film in Denmark,” Acting for the Silents, Riga International Summer School of Film History, Riga, Latvia, 25-30 August 1995.
7. “The Danish Cinema and German Film Style 1912-1922,” Dansk-tyske forhold og vekselvirkninger i film, conference arranged in cooperation with Goethe-Institut Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen, 3-4 November 1995.
8. “The Picture-Writer: The Work of Benjamin Christensen,” Before the Auteur: III. International Film Studies Conference, Università degli studi di Udine, Italy, 21 March 1996.
9. “Film History and the Cognitve Revolution,” Film, Mind, and Viewer: 2nd Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, University of Copenhagen, 30 May 1999.
10. “Aspects of Danish Silent Cinema,” Silents from Nordic and Baltic Countries: Riga International Summer School of Film History, Latvia, 26 August 1999.
11. “Film History, Authorship, and New Media,” Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Chicago, USA, 10 March 2000.
12. “Dreyer and the Film Face,” The Visible Man: VIII. International Film Studies Conference, Università degli studi di Udine, Italy, 21 March 2001.
13. “Past Reflections: Anachronism and the Historical Film,” Problems of Representation in a Cognitive Theory of Moving Images, 3rd Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Pécs, Hungary, 24 May 2001.
14. “The Presentation of Variant Endings,” Film and Its Multiples: IX. International Film Studies Conference, Università degli studi di Udine, Italy, 20 March 2002.
15. “The Mark of the Maker: or, Does it make sense to speak of a Cinematic paratext?" Limina: Le soglie del film - Film’s thresholds: X. International Film Studies Conference, Università degli studi di Udine, Italy, 20 March 2003.
16.  “Unquiet Dreams: Vampire Films and the Manifestations of Sound,” Gradisca Spring School, Gradisca, Italy, 22 March 2004.
17. “Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc,” invited lecture, Imperial War Museum, London, 30 March 2004.
18.  “Dreyer Dossier,” presentation with Thomas Christensen, Il Cinema ritrovato XVIII film festival, Bologna, Italy, 5 July 2004.
19. “A Door Unto Other Worlds: Emotion, Humanism, and the Films of the Past,” Narration, Imagination and Emotion in Moving Image Media: 4th Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 22 July 2004.
20. “Dreyer and the Danish Silent Film: From Aviation to Art,” Vaghe stelle del nord: cinema e cultura nordica negli anni del muto, conference, Università degli studi di Torino, Italy, 18 October 2004.
21. “Kreativitet og kontekst,” lecture, University of Copenhagen, 16 February 2005.
22. “Dreyer and Sound Film Style,” invited lecture, Film Style and Story: An International Symposium in Honor of David Bordwell, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 22 April 2005.
23. Opposition ex auditorio at the public defense of Jan Nielsen’s doctoral dissertation A/S Filmfabriken Danmark: SRH/Filmfabriken Danmarks historie og produktion, 9 September 2005.
24. “Det evropæiske Princip,” CinemaProject-conference Venner for livet? – dansk film i krydsfeltet mellem samarbejde og konkurrence, CBS, Copenhagen, 27 April 2006.
25. “Rhythm and Image in Dreyer’s Films,” Narration and Spectatorship in Moving Images, 5th Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Konrad Wolf-Akademie für Film und Fernsehen, Potsdam, Germany, 23 July 2006.
26. “DVDs, Film Scholarship, and the Economics of Attention,” NECS (Network for European Cinema Studies) Conference, Vienna, 23 June 2007.
27. “Pissing Into the Well,” 6th Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Madison, Wisconsin, 14 June 2008.
28. “Dreyers Ordet,” invited lecture, University of Oslo, 3 April 2009.
29. “Kulturmøder i den gamle biograf,” Kulturmøder fra antikken til i dag, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 13 March 2010.
30. Presentations of Dreyer’s films Prästänkan, Die Gezeichneten, Der var engang, Michael, La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, Vampyr, Ordet, and Gertrud, 4th Two Riversides Film and Art Festival, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, 31 July-5 August 2010.
31. Presentation of Asta Nielsen retrospective, 11. Letnia Akademia Filmowa [11th Summer Film Academy], Zwierzyniec, Poland, 6 August 2010.
32. “Kunstfortolkning og Darwinisme, eller Skønheden og Udyret,” Efter postmodernismen, conference, University of Copenhagen, 25 November 2010.
33. “Distinguished Compositions: The Use of Paintings as Visual Models in Danish Silent Films,” The Picturesque in Film and Theatre, International Symposium, Waseda University, Tokyo, 18 January 2011
34. “Dreyer, Scandinavian Cinema, and Day of Wrath,” invited lecture, University of Helsinki/Finnish Film Museum, Helsinki, 18 February 2011
35. “Arkadien på metaplanet: antikken som uvirkelighedsmarkør i filmen,” Litteraturens Ekko, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 11 March 2011.
36. “Haunted by the Past: Evocriticism and Giving the Dead Their Due,” 9th Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, 9 June 2011
37. “Dreyer’s Day of Wrath: Occupation Memory, Witchcraft History?” IAMHIST conference, Copenhagen, 7 July 2011
38. “Nordisk Films Kompagni and the First World War,” presentation with Thomas Christensen, IAMHIST conference, Copenhagen, 8 July 2011
39. “Presenting Afgrunden in Copenhagen and Skive,” Importing Asta Nielsen: Cinema-Going and the Making of the Star System in the Early 1910s, International conference, Deutsches Film Museum, Frankfurt, 28 September 2011.
40. “Ophavsretten og videnskaben,” Ophavsretten og brugerne, UBVA-symposium, Copenhagen, 3 November 2011
41. “Dreyer’s Creative Inspirations,” invited lecture, Österreichisches Filmmuseum, Vienna, 4 November 2011.
42. “Dreyer: An den Rändern. Ein Dossier,” presentation with Thomas Christensen, Österreichisches Filmmuseum, Vienna, 7 November 2011.
43. “The Bodies of Spirits: Evolution, Visual Effects, and Ghostly Transparency,” Body Language in Moving Images, international seminar, University of Copenhagen, 16 December 2011.
44. “Kødelighedens arena: den lystne oldtid i levende billeder,” I Venus’ vold – erotik i oldtiden, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 9 March 2012.
45. “The Two Faces of Joan: Performance, Feelings, and Film History,” 10th Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Sarah Lawrence College & NYU, New York, 16 June 2012.
46. “Day of Wrath and Cultural Memory,” Journal of Scandinavian Cinema seminar: Special issues: World War II and Christmas, Lund, Sweden, 6 December 2012.
47. “Reality-Testing Remediation,” international symposium in honor of Torben Grodal, University of Copenhagen, 25 January 2013.
48. “Genklang i evigheden: filmhelte og kulturel erindring,” Mellem gud og menneske – helte i antikken, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 8 March 2013.
49. “First-Person History: How Films Shape Historical Consciousness,” 11th Conference of the Society for the Cognitive Study of the Moving Image, Universität der Künste, Berlin, 15 June 2013.
50. “Film Histories and the Politics of Film Historians,” NECS (Network for European Cinema Studies) Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, 20 June 2013.
51. “Figures in Landscapes: Expressive Bodies in 1920s Scandinavian Film,” Body Language in Moving Images 2, international seminar, University of Copenhagen, 20 November 2013.
52. “1864, Subjectivity, and Fictional Privilege”, Lübeck Film Studies Colloquium, 5 November 2016
53. “Lysets magt og filmens muser,” Den anden verden - tro og overtro i antikken, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 7 March 2014
54. ”On the Periphery of the ’National Film’: Danish Cinematic Border Crossings, 1918‑1929”, Grenzüberschreitungen im Skandinavischen Stummfilm, international conference, Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftzentrum, Greifswald, 5 May 2014.
55. “The National Pomander: Sørensen og Rasmussen (1940)”, Lübeck Film Studies Colloquium, 1 November 2014
56. ”Danish Silent Cinema and the Historiography of Film Style”, lecture series (six lectures), Thomas Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, 18-20 November 2014
57. ”Antik inspiration i dansk film”, Lyset fra antikken: Danmark og den klassiske tradition, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 6 March 2015
58. “Systematic Age: Artifacts, Series, and Solutions”, A History of Cinema without Names, Udine, 18 March 2015
59. “The Case for Film Ecdotics”, NECS Conference, Lodz, Poland, 19 June 2015
60. “Nameless Shadows: Film History and the Presence of Past Purposes”, NORDMEDIA Conference, University of Copenhagen, 14 August 2015
61. ”Seeking the Promised Land of Film Art: Victor Sjöström and Carl Th. Dreyer”, 2^nd Baltic Sea Region Film History Conference: Emerging Screen Sites/Sights: Development of Cinema around the Baltic Sea 1920-1940, Tallinn, Estonia, 1 October 2015
62. ”The Woman’s Point of View: Thora van Deken (1920)”, Lübeck Film Studies Colloquium, 7 November 2015
63. ”Antikkens lov og ret – på film”, Ret meget lov: om antikkens retsforhold, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 4. marts 2016
64. “Reflections of Hellfire: Costume Dramas as Allegories in Denmark and Sweden during World War II”, 3^rd Baltic Sea Region Film History Conference: World War II and Its Aftermath in the Cinemas of the Baltic Sea Region, Tallinn, Estonia, 27 October 2016
65. “Oltidsunderholdning og underholdningsindustri”, Underholdning: Tant, fjas, humor og alvor I antikken, seminar arranged by Phrontisterium, Greek and Latin students’ society, University of Copenhagen, 10 March 2017
66. “Arrangement i dybden: Stumfilmskuespilleren og filmbilledet”, Valdemar Psilander: en verdensstjerne i dansk film, DFI, Copenhagen, 12 March 2017
67. “Frk. Fredriksen går til filmen”, Nordic Women in Film: Danmark – før og nu, international seminar, University of Copenhagen, 9 May 2017
68. “What I learned from the original print of La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc”, Lübeck Film Studies Colloquium, 3 November 2017
69. Presentation of Vampyr, Kino Filmpodium, Zürich, 16 September 2023
70.