Zentropa film, which has produced some of Denmark’s best-known films, is to lay off half of its staff, with founder Peter Aalbæk Jensen to move activities abroad, according to Jyllands-Posten.

According to the report, some 40 of the company’s 80 employees are to be laid off over the next year as a result of increasing costs and falling attendances.

Aalbæk Jensen is reported to have decided to transfer the management of the company to a triumvirate of younger managers and work abroad where new Zentropa companies are to increase activities with Danish and local talent.

“We can’t afford to be romantic. In Poland I can get a good cameraman for DKK 20,000 per month and he works 10 hours per day. In Denmark, a cameraman walked out of a meeting with me the other day because I would not pay him DKK 32,000 per week,” says Aalbæk Jensen.

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Business models
Henrik Bo Nielsen, who is director of The Danish Film Institute (DFI), says he understands Aalbæk’s frustrations.

“With falling DVD sales and piracy it is difficult to find business models that work. DFI cannot involve itself in collective agreements, but it’s clear that lower earnings require cost level considerations,” Nielsen says.