Sune and Cida De Souza Schmidt-Madsen, Managing Editor and Author.
Students at European Film College 1999-2000.
What did you do after EFC?
After we came back from EFC, we both started at the University of Copenhagen. Cida studied Anthropology, specializing in visual anthropology, and did fieldwork among young Native Americans who work with new media.
Sune studied literature and philosophy and got a job at the Danish literary journal Kritik. Then followed many years with children, studies and freelance assignments – Cida primarily as a documentarist for various NGOs, Sune as a ghostwriter and translator in the publishing industry.
Cida continued to study as a journalist, and debuted as a novelist in 2015 with the novel "Alice", Sune became a publishing editor and debuted as a novelist in 2019 with the novel "The Law of the Cannibal". The photo above was taken this spring in Lyon, where we participated in the international crime fair together.
We have been together since we met at EFC. Today, Cida works at Raatstof Medie with video and photo, and Sune works as a publishing manager for Danish fiction at the publisher Lindhardt & Ringhof.
What did the EFC experience mean to you?
Our time at EFC was very defining – first of all, we met each other and lightning struck, but it was also really important in terms of becoming who we are today. Telling stories, whether in books, theater or film, and whether based on reality or fiction, is an inseparable part of our lives.
But in addition to the purely professional, EFC can also do something else: It can bind worlds together. We have always loved traveling and seeing the world, both professionally with our films and books, and on our own adventures. In a time when more people are building walls and setting up borders, one realizes how privileged we are to be able to meet across countries - it is a strong value that is worth protecting and fighting for, and it is a great source of inspiration in our lives today.
EFC was a wild and life-changing time, which in a way became the focal point for everything that later happened. On our 10th anniversary, we visited the school with our two eldest children, and it was fun to be able to point out, "this is where we met". It is also exciting now to follow them and see what kind of world they are about to be old enough to enter - and what stories they are going to tell.