The Danes struck a more serious tone in front of the camerain 2004, moving away from the tried-and-tested formula of contemporary familydrama with a touch of tragedy but plenty of heart and humour.

Not every 'feel-bad' movie, including In YourHands and Aftermath, was embraced by local audiences. But Brothers, dealing with the effect of the Afghan war on aDanish family and King's Fame,about political power-play, struck a chord.

They both became huge hits, each with 450,000 admissions. Itencouraged the production of more genre films, not least those with politicalthemes, as will be evident from next year's releases.

Overheard this year

'We have followed the development closely, and nowbelieve that the quality of the digital equipment surpasses the traditional35mm-film format.' JohnToennes, CEO of Nordisk Film Biografer, the first exhibitor in Denmark to equipits cinemas with digital projectors for the release of Shrek 2 and I, Robot.

Breakthrough Talent

Local heart-throb Mads Mikkelsen starred alongside CliveOwen, Ioan Gruffeld and Keira Knightley in Buena Vista's King Arthur. His next project is the English-languagePusher II: With Blood On My Hands, fromDanish director Nicolas Winding Refn.

The year ahead

'I expect that my film will unite the Ku Klux Klan andblack people, because both parties will want to kill me afterwards.' Larsvon Trier on Manderlay.

Box office snapshot

Highest-grossing film: Harry Potter And The Prisoner OfAzkaban (Sandrew Metronome) $7.62(dkr42.6m)

Highest-grossing arthouse film: Lost In Translation (Sandrew Metronome) $1.31m

Highest-grossing local film: King's Game (Nordisk Film) $4.7m*

* Still on release