Phie Ambo

Director

Ambo (born 1973) is one of the leading Danish film directors of her generation.
Award winning for her feature length documentary films true to the tradition of
poetic, personal and cinematic documentary filmmaking, Ambo deals with sensitive
topics such as family relations, love, spiritualism, creative processes, artificial life and
robots. Phie Ambo has directed a number of award-winning films for the cinema,
including major works such as Family (2001), Gambler (2005), and Mechanical Love
(2007). Her films travel the world and have been screened in cinemas as well as over
90 festivals and on television throughout the world. Ambo is mainly interested in big
questions like ‘what makes us human as opposed to robots?’ (Mechanical Love). Her
intimate method of filming – one woman, one camera, no lightning – allows her to
blend in with her surroundings, thus getting very close to her subjects without
disturbing the natural pace of the situation. As a result of this method, one of
Ambo’s trademarks are intimate and universally human stories that get very close to
their characters and allow them space to unfold.