Entertainment
Oscars 2021 winner Thomas Vinterberg breaks down in tears as he shares heartbreak over daughter’s death
Director Thomas Vinterberg won his first Oscar last night but it was a bittersweet moment as he tearfully paid tribute to his late daughter.
The 51-year-old filmmaker won best international feature film for Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen, on Sunday.
However, his triumph was tinged in sadness as Thomas took the opportunity to honour his daughter Ida, who died in a car crash in 2019 at the age of 19.
In his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony, Thomas said: ‘Four days into shooting, the impossible happened. An accident on a highway took my daughter away, someone looking into a cell phone. And we miss her and I love her.’
Ida was due to make her screen debut in Another Round playing Mikkelsen’s teenage daughter but was never able to fulfil her dream due to her death.
Thomas revealed: ‘Two months before it, we shot this movie, and two months before she died, she was in Africa. She wrote me a letter, she had just read the script and she was glowing with excitement. She loved this, she felt seen by this, she was supposed to be in this.’
The director continued: ‘If anyone dares to believe she’s here with us now, you’d be able to see her clapping and cheering with us. We ended up making this movie for her as her monument.
‘So, Ida, this is a miracle that just happened, and you’re a part of this miracle. Maybe you’ve been pulling some strings somewhere, but this one’s for you.’
Last year, Thomas opened up about Ida’s death and said his life was ‘destroyed’.
‘We were very close. She always told me the honest truth,’ he told IndieWire in December.
‘It did not make sense to continue, but it did not make sense not to continue. She would’ve hated that. So we decided to make the movie for her. That was the only way we could do this.’
He added: ‘All my friends carried me through. I guess that radiates on the screen,” he said. “We felt that it was very important to make a life-affirming film.’
Another Round follows four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.
Oscars 2021 winners
Best picture: Nomadland
Best actor: Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Best supporting actor: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas And The Black Messiah)
Best actress: Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Best supporting actress: Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)
Best director: Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
Best animated feature film: Soul
Best cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt (Mank)
Best film editing: Mikkel EG Nielsen (Sound Of Metal)
Best costume design: Ann Roth (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Best original score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste (Soul)
Best original song: Fight For You (Judas And The Black Messiah)
Adapted screenplay: The Father – Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
Original screenplay: Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
Best production design: Mank
Best make-up and hairstyling: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Best sound: Sound Of Metal
Best live-action short film: Two Distant Strangers
Best visual effects: Tenet
Best documentary feature: My Octopus Teacher
Best international feature: Another Round (Denmark)
Best animated short: If Anything Happens I Love You
Best documentary short: Colette
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