Director Profile: SEX, DRUGS & TAXATION'S Christoffer Boe

Director Christoffer Boe is no stranger to film festivals. Since his student film, Anxiety, played at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival--winning the Prix Decouverte de la Critique Francais--Boe has premiered a handful of feature films at various film festivals to praise from critics and awards alike.

His first feature film, Reconstruction, was shot with Super 16 film and relied almost entirely on natural light. Whoa, right? Naturally, it won the Caméra d'Or and Prix Regard Jeune at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. It also went on to win a slew of other awards, including the Gold Plaque for Best Cinematography from the Chicago International Film Festival, the Bronze Frog for cinematography from Camerimage, and, perhaps most impressive of all, Boe was awarded the FIPRESCI Director of the Year award from the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Reconstruction still

Boe's 2006 feature, Offscreen, also received festival attention, winning the Young Cinema Award at the Venice Film Festival, the Nordic Council's Film Prize, and the Jury Prize for Best Film at the 2007 Fantastic Fest--just to name a few. Offscreen follows actor Nicolas Bro, playing a skewed version of himself, on a quest to film his entire life. Mixing reality with fiction, the dark, satirical film plays to people's tendency toward narcissism and obsessive self-indulgence.

Offscreen still

Sex, Drugs & Taxation will have its International Premiere at this year's Festival and marks Boe's first (and hopefully not his last) film at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is a quasi-biopic about Simon Spies and Mogens Gilstrup--people who you might not have heard of before this film but you certainly won't be able to forget after having seen it. Start off with a little bit of a buddy comedy, add a generous amount of booze and LSD, and toss in a scene where a man chases off a gorilla with his penis and you've got one unforgettable, hilarious trip.

Sex, Drugs & Taxation still

Seriously now, guys: you don't want to miss Sex, Drugs & Taxation at this year's Festival. We know you'll be talking about it, and director Christoffer Boe, long after the final credit rolls.


SEX, DRUGS & TAXATION Screening Times:

• Saturday, Sept 7th, 9:30 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
• Sunday, Sept 8th, 7:45 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
• Friday, Sept 13th, 12:00 PM SCOTIABANK 2

SEX, DRUGS, AND TAXATION Trailer and Posters

Christoffer Boe's film documents the unlikely friendship between two of 1960s Denmark's most interesting men: Mogens Glistrup, a radical libertarian, and the hedonist capitalist Simon Spies. Their friendship, forged by being outsiders in a conformist country, took them through years of adulation and success, with slight detours into the welcoming arms of vilification and imprisonment. Boe's story about Spies and Glistrup covers just a few decades from 1965 to 1984. Here's the trailer (alas, no subtitles, but I think you'll get the general idea):

And I love these posters, with one for each character as well as the primary one:

The quotation from Simon Spies on this one reads: "I have no vices, only appetites."

And Mogens Glistrup's is, very loosely translated: "Tax evaders can be compared to railway saboteurs. They do a dangerous job but one that's good for the country."

A tidbit from programmer Steve Gravestock's programme note: Sex, Drugs & Taxation is one of the most daring movies to come out of Denmark since the Pusher trilogy — and it's certainly the only one you'll see this year where a man in a bathrobe chases off a full-grown gorilla by waving his penis at it.

SEX, DRUGS, AND TAXATION screening times:

• Saturday September 7, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 9:30pm
• Sunday September 8, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 7:45pm
• Friday September 13, Scotiabank 2, 12:00pm