Niels-Ole Rasmussen is a director at Copenhagen Film, making documentaries and series for Danish & European broadcasters. Active in the international documentary filmmaking community, he serves as a juror and coordinator for the Prix Europa, the INPUT Conference & the Japan Prize. He is teaching “Global Lens: Documentary Films with a Wide-Angle Point of View” with Karen Davis this spring.
What makes a documentary great?
The short answer is: quality and lasting impact.
One film we’re going to view in class is In the Rearview, set during the early days of the war in Ukraine. It begins simply: a camera pointed at people sitting in the back of a van. No one speaks — you just read their faces.
I’m a juror at a number of awards shows. Last year, I watched dozens of films at Prix Europa in Berlin — 60 films in five days — and within 30 seconds of seeing In the Rearview, I knew this was it. It was incredibly powerful and profound.
To me, that’s the magic of a great documentary: how something so simple can immediately pull you in.
Another film we’ll screen is the climate film Mankind’s Folly. This one is very physical — you feel it. It’s not just intellectual; it gives you the sensation that the earth is shifting beneath you.
Then there’s Life and Death in Gaza. Even though it’s a document of its time, its impact will last long after circumstances change. The human perspective is immediate and deeply personal. You’re with ordinary people navigating chaos — parents trying to care for a sick child.
What do you see as the difference between video journalism and documentary filmmaking?
There are no absolutes, but one key difference is time. A great documentary unfolds over time in a way journalism rarely can.
In the Gaza film, journalists couldn’t get in, so cameras were given to ordinary people. Their footage became the film. You follow their lives and struggles — not just during a moment of crisis, but as an evolving story. That, to me, is the narrative power of documentary. It’s where something deeper can emerge.
As someone who lives in Copenhagen teaching an American audience, what does “global lens” mean to you?
To me, it means going to places — experiencing places — you wouldn’t otherwise encounter: yes, geographically, but also mentally and emotionally. It takes you somewhere you are not. It allows you to see the world through someone else’s perspective — their temperament, their intent. That creates a kind of global community through film.
How did you get into documentary filmmaking?
I studied communication and social science and then drifted into news — sports and entertainment as well. I did that for some time, but eventually my colleagues and I grew tired of it. News is news — but after a while, it’s not new anymore.
So I decided to make documentaries instead. That’s how it started.
Looking back, though, I think the seed was planted much earlier — during what we called “church time” in Denmark in the 1970s. There was a law that cinemas couldn’t show films during church hours unless they were for the public good. One filmmaker took advantage of that loophole and made documentaries about Indigenous peoples around the world — Borneo, South Africa, Aboriginal communities.
My parents gave me a choice: go to church or go watch those films. I chose the films. I remember thinking: imagine traveling the world and making films like that.
Later, my friends and I realized we all had the same dream. So we said, “Let’s make films and see the world.” That was our business plan.
Fortunately for us, it worked out. We’ve filmed in 32 countries. And when you travel making documentaries, it’s very different from a vacation. You have to fully engage and immerse yourself — finding people, uncovering stories and building relationships. That’s where the adventure comes from. It becomes addictive.