Mads Brügger
Danish filmmaker (born 1972)
title: "Mads Brügger" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["living-people", "danish-film-producers", "danish-television-presenters", "danish-radio-presenters", "television-talk-show-hosts", "radio24syv-people", "1972-births", "sundance-film-festival-award-winners"] description: "Danish filmmaker (born 1972)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mads_Brügger" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Danish filmmaker (born 1972) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Mads Brügger |
| image | Mads Brügger by Christian Ursilva.jpg |
| alt | close-up of Mads Brügger wearing a light blue shirt, brown suit jacket, and dark tie, looking at camera |
| caption | Brügger in 2025 |
| birth_name | |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Denmark |
| occupation | Filmmaker |
| years_active | 2001–present |
| known_for | |
| :: |
| name = Mads Brügger | image = Mads Brügger by Christian Ursilva.jpg | alt = close-up of Mads Brügger wearing a light blue shirt, brown suit jacket, and dark tie, looking at camera | caption = Brügger in 2025 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Denmark | citizenship = | other_names = | occupation = Filmmaker | years_active = 2001–present | known_for =
Mads Brügger Cortzen (; born 24 June 1972) is a Danish filmmaker and TV host.
Career
Film
Brügger's first two projects, the documentary series Danes for Bush and the feature The Red Chapel, filmed in the United States and North Korea, respectively, are satirical looks at each of the two nations.
In October 2011, he released a new documentary, The Ambassador, about the trading of diplomatic titles in Africa. Brügger impersonated a Liberian ambassador by purchasing a new identity on the black market and then proceeded to expose the ease with which people holding diplomatic titles can exploit the gem trade.
As result of the revelations in the documentary, the government of Liberia took legal steps to prosecute Brügger and other people involved in the project, due to the embarrassment his work was perceived to have caused the nation. However, as of July 2012, the Danish government has not been presented with a formal demand for Brügger's extradition.
Brügger directed Cold Case Hammarskjöld, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary focuses on the death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in a 1961 plane crash. In January 2019, Brügger reported on his findings in three articles published in The Guardian.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Mads_Brügger_&Mikkel_Andersson(54974293120).jpg" caption="Brügger in conversation with Mikkel Andersson on press freedom in November 2025"] ::
In October 2020, Brügger's documentary The Mole: Undercover in North Korea was released, featuring a Danish chef going undercover in the Korean Friendship Association over the course of ten years, while trying to uncover the illicit arms and narcotics dealings of North Korea.
Other media
Brügger has hosted the talk show Den 11. time as well as the news program Deadline on the Danish channel DR2.
Filmography
- Danes for Bush – documentary series (2004)
- The Red Chapel (2009)
- The Ambassador (2011)
- The Saint Bernard Syndicate (2018)
- Cold Case Hammarskjöld (2019)
- The Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
References
References
- (6 May 2011). "The Man with the Yellow Hat Gone Bad". Danish Film Institute.
- Dworkin, Jennifer. (Sep–Oct 2012). "The Ambassador". Film Comment.
- (29 August 2012). "Is Exploitation Ever OK?". Huffington Post.
- Scott, A. O.. (28 August 2012). "'The Ambassador,' Directed by Mads Brugger". The New York Times.
- Julian Isherwood. (25 May 2009). "Liberia to sue The Ambassador". [[Politiken]].
- (12 January 2019). "RAF veteran 'admitted 1961 killing of UN secretary general'". The Guardian.
- (20 January 2019). "Coups and murder: the sinister world of apartheid's secret mercenaries". The Guardian.
- (27 January 2019). "Ex-mercenary claims South African group tried to spread Aids". The Guardian.
- (11 October 2020). "Documentary claims to expose North Korea trying to dodge sanctions". BBC.
- (25 May 2009). "Mads Brügger ny Deadline-vært". {{Interlanguage link multi.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::