Whether it’s planned or not, the fact is that Mette Knudsen has written, directed and at times produced a series of films which have turned out to be one long inquiry into women’s existential life conditions in the 20^th and 21^st century.

 

From the middle aged woman’s crises when the the grown up children move away from home in TAKE IT LIKE A MAN, MA’M (feature film in col. w. Elisabeth Rygaard and Li Vilstrup).

 

To the harsh tale of wife battering in KNOCK ON WOOD (TV feature film in col. w. Elisabeth Rygaard).

 

To the documentation of women’s biggest working place, the home, in MAIDS (documentary film in col.w. Ulla Boje Rasmussen).

 

To the long struggle for the right to vote in FREEDOM EQUALITY AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE (documentary film).

 

To the development of the new women’s movement in RED STOCKINGS (documentary film).

 

To the big dilemma of our time: How to combine work and childen in  LITTLE LASSE (short fiction)  and in  HONEY, IT’S YOUR TURN (feature film).

 

To the tale of one of the biggest achievement of the Danish women’s movement: the creation of the first center for battered women in THE COUNTESS & HER DAUGHTERS (documentary film).

 

To the anti racist portrait of two African women in AFRICA IN MY HEART (documentary flm).

 

To the personal documentary of an African woman's dramatic life and her sufferings from female genital mutilation in THE SECRET PAIN.

 

In 1999 Mette Knudsen founded, together with director Vibeke Gad, the Danish  chapter of the international organisation Women In Film & TV. Mette Knudsen was chairman of the board until 2001 and a board member until 2004. In collaboration with Jane Rowley she is the author of “Gender & Work in Film & TV 1992 – 2002”.

 

 

 

 

Mette Knudsen’s drive and vision has been to fill some of the big “black holes” in film and photography that her generation experienced when it came to descriptions of women's lives.

 

No other Danish film director has so consequently depicted women’s existential life conditions.

 

Mette Knudsen has been invited to sit on the boards of The Danish Film Institute, The Danish Film Directors Guild and The European Film College.

 

Mette Knudsen has been awarded the PH-Prize, Ingrid Jespersen’s Big Grant, Laurens Bogtman’s Honorary Grant, “Le Mention Honorable” de L’Institut Cinématographique Francais and the prestigeous Work Grant of the Danish Government. And for the film THE SECRET PAIN she was presented with Amnesty International’s Human Rights Award.

 

 

At present, Mette Knudsen is working on THE RED LINE -  a documentary about the Danish women’s liberation movements from 1870 up till now. For this work she has obtained the Development Grant of The Danish Film Institute.