Greenland researchers and participants in a Greenland-themed documentary have accused the movie's Danish filmmaker of distorting the country's image.

ADVERTISEMENT

People appearing in the critically acclaimed documentary "Flugten fra Gronland," which translates as "Escaping Greenland," said director Poul-Erik Heilbuth manipulated the footage he shot to give the wrong impression about the country, the Copenhagen Post reported Friday.

David Kristoffersen, who appeared in the documentary to show the filmmakers where seals are caught in his town, said he was asked to wear old clothes for the shoot and footage of him in the film was cut together with video of drunken residents.

Sorine Gejl, who served as a researcher for the film, organized a Friday demonstration against the end product at Copenhagen's Hotel D'Angleterre, where the ceremony for Billed-Bladet magazine's television award is scheduled to be held. The documentary has been nominated for the award.

"Films like this one become a kind of evidence and that cannot happen," Gejl said. "I won't deny that there are problems in Greenland, but you can't take people out of context to the degree that Poul-Erik has done."