JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Denmark has produced some of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema, from Carl Theodor Dreyer to the instigators of Dogme 95 and after. Starting tomorrow you can see the work of recent Danish filmmakers at the Danish Film Festival in Shang Mall.

If you have not seen The Hunt, we recommend you start there. Mads Mikkelsen (TV’s Hannibal) plays a kindergarten employee who is accused of sexually abusing a child. The charge goes viral in the small town, and even after he is cleared of the charge, he has to defend himself against the same friends he used to go hunting with. Mikkelsen won the Best Actor prize at Cannes for his amazing, empathic portrayal. Also, the movie is set during the Xmas season, which makes for great counter programming.

Then you can watch Mikkelsen again in A Royal Affair, a costume drama where he is cast as friend and physician to the unstable King Christian VII. The physician and Queen Caroline Mathilda use their influence over the king to make Denmark a centre of enlightened thought, enraging the aristocracy. Alicia Vikander, who is in every other movie this year, plays the queen.

Our friends the Mosses are having a big library sale at their house in Quezon City. On sale are over a thousand books, hardcover and paperback, at 20 pesos each. Most of the books are now hard to find, and there are lots and lots of collectible Penguin Classics.

We went there this afternoon chanting, “We don’t need more books, we just want to see what you’ve got. No, really, we don’t need more books.” An hour later, we had filled up a box with 25 books by Georges Simenon, Shirley Jackson, Jan Morris, V.S. Pritchett, Nancy Mitford, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lawrence Durrell and Pauline Kael. And we were already exercising maximum self-control. Total expense: 500 pesos, less than the current retail price of one trade edition.

If you’d like to go to the library sale, email us at saffron.safin@gmail.com. We’ll reply with details and put you on the list. The sale is until July 30 only.

* * * * *

UPDATE: As of 6pm on Monday, 20 July 2015, there are no more books available from the Moss Library. Much as Jason enjoys entertaining guests, you’ll have to wait until he opens a bar (We would invest in that).

Thanks to everyone who attended the library sale and provided new homes for those books. We know that bibliophiliacs like to crow about their acquisitions, so tell us what titles you found in the stacks.

Due to inclement weather.

On the other hand, you have another week to enroll in the workshop.

New workshop schedule:
July 16, 23 and last day (TO BE ANNOUNCED)
6:30pm to 8:30pm, Ayala Museum

For inquiries, email Marj at villaflores.md@ayalafoundation.org.