The History

Zentropa was founded in 1992 as a result of the collaboration between director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen on the feature film, Europa (Zentropa). They share an equal ownership of 25% of the company. Another 25 % is owned by employees and others closely associated with the company. The last 50 % was bought by Nordisk Film in February 2008.

The Company differs from the other major competitors in the market by having established a decentralized autonomous organisation structure which creates space for new ideas and alternative methods of productions. This particular company culture has drawn some of the best directors to Zentropa and in the 90’s the company became the driving force behind the ”Dogme”- movement, which revitalized Scandinavian film with The Idiots and Italian for beginners – “dogma” soon became an idea adopted by film directors all over the world.

Zentropa has produced more than 70 films over the years, by directors such as, Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, The Kingdom I-II, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Manderlay, etc.), and Per Fly (Trilogy: The Bench, The Inheritance, Manslaughter). Many of the films produced by Zentropa enjoy critical acclaim worldwide and have been awarded the most prestigious prizes the festival circuit has to offer, among these Palm d’Or of Cannes, The Silver Bear of Berlin and Oscar nominations on four occasions.

Over the years, Zentropa has expanded beyond the limits of Denmark, successfully establishing production units throughout Europe: Germany, France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and now in Spain.

The increasing activities of Zentropa include music videos, documentaries, television entertainment, and development of multimedia projects. There are facilities for post production, sound design, in house rental of production equipment and international sales – all in all, making the company self-sustaining in every aspect of filmmaking.
With an annual turnover at $30 million (Euro 29.3 million), Zentropa is the largest film production company in Scandinavia. A position it has maintained since 1994.

Zentropa established the company ZENTROPA INTERNATIONAL SPAIN (”Zentropa Spain”) in September 2009. This company is lead by producer and managing director David Matamoros. Our goal is invest in the production of Spanish films and International films as well as co-producing films with other Spanish and foreign film companies. We have found a few established and recognized directors who we have engaged in close working relationships with and we will use our expertise in international film production to make high quality and commercially interesting films.