Christian Bonke

Writer-director

Denmark

Christian Holten Bonke is a Copenhagen based film director and screenwriter who works in the field between documentary and fiction.

He is educated from the Danish National Film School. Graduated in 2005, Christian Holten Bonke has since worked as a director. He has directed documentaries, music videos, commercials and series for television.

His films are often very personal portraits where he always puts the human aspect at the apex.

Project

Hercules Falling

Josef returned from war a broken man is unable to live with his wife and son.
After a mental break down he is forced to go to a retreat for war veterans in order to be healed and accept his new limitations. The retreat is situated on the vast outskirts of Denmark on a small Island. From here a new inner journey starts for Josef.
At first he struggles to settle in, but slowly, he begins to open up to his fellow residents the world around him.
After a while, Josef is finally united with his family at the retreat and now he regains the dream of returning home to the life he had before he broke down.
He returns to his son ́s birthday and is faced with all the adversities of the civil society. This creates a heavy fall back in him and his aggressions again surfaces in front of everyone.
Josef now realizes that his dream can ́t be fulfilled has to make other plans for his future. He discovers that soldiers can actually function well in war despite their PTDS. Josef then flees the sanctuary to rejoin the war he was unable to escape.