For many families in the sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles, an idyllic, peaceful middle-class existence is just a facade. What lies beneath is the unseen domestic turmoil: teens addicted to drugs, breaking the law and engaging in violent outbursts—and parents at their wits end. Interventionists, like Evan “Bullet” James and Dana “Hodges” Goller, specialize in entering these suburban homes in the night and ripping troubled teens from their beds to transport them, against their will, to a reform school in Utah. Just the Right Amount of Violence, crafted in John Bang Carlsenʼs signature dramatized vérité style, combines elements of documentary and fictional interpretations to create an indelible and emotionally gripping portrait of families in crisis. Carlsen also inserts himself into the narrative, reflecting on his own troubled relationship with his father. Carlsenʼs film overall seeks to highlight the tension between artifice and reality, where truth can be found.

Direction: Jon Bang Carlsen

Script: Jon Bang Carlsen

Production: Helle Ulsten, Jon Bang Carlsen, Jon Bang Carlsen

Cinematography: Jon Bang Carlsen

Editing: Morten Giese

Production Design: Hilda Rasula, Rikke Selin

Costume Design: Simon Bang Carlsen

Sound: Jess Wolfsberg

Original Score: Nathan Larson

Cast: Melissa Carnell, Quinn Butterfield

Original Title: JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF VIOLENCE

Original Language: English

Film Production Country: Denmark

Statement of the Director/s
"Just the right amount of violence"
is a story about the break-up of the one love affair that you can't live without, the love between children and parents. The craddle of our souls. The location is suburbian Los Angeles. The home of James Dean from "Rebel without a cause" and "Desperate housewives". The classic doll's houses that frame our strict ideas of happiness and cripple those who can't develope within. While fighting to make this painful story reveal itself to the camera I gradually realize that I have to reveal my own wounds. That the only way I can make the wounded teenagers face my camera is by facing an agonizing pain within my own soul. A loss of parental love that I have kept abay by hiding behind the very camera, that is supposed to tell a story of teenagers being hijacked to teenage prisons in Mormon Utah in the name of love.

Jon Bang Carlsen 2014.

Biography of the Director/s
Jon Bang Carlsen – films:
born 1950 in Denmark. Graduated from The Danish Film School in 1976 . Worked with the famous Danish theatre group ”Solvognen” from 1971 to 1978 . Has published poetry, essays and a novel apart from his main profession of writing , directing and producing movies.
Stupid Sara (1972) Wounded Knee (1974) The Santa Claus Action (1975) The Lighthouse) (1975) Sand upon Roses (1976) Jenny (1977) A man from Hanstholm (1977) (Feature film) A Rich Man ( ) Next Stop – Paradis (1980) (Feature film) Hotel of the Stars (1981) You are beautiful I love you (1981) The Controller (1983) ( Feature film) Phoenix Bird (1984) The long day (1984) Ophelia comes to town (1985) (Feature film) Before the guests arrive (1986) First I wanted to find the truth (1987) Time Out (1988) ( Feature film) Baby Doll (1988) ( Feature film) Ich bin auch ein Berliner (1990) Life will be lived (1993) Carmen and Babyface (1995) ( Feature film) It’ s Now or Never (1996) How to Invent Reality (1996) My Irish diary (1996) Strange Fruit (1997) Through Irish Eyes (1997) Addicted to Solitude (1999) ( Feature length documentary) My African diary (1999) Return to Sender (2000) Portrait of God (2001) (Feature length documentary) Zuma the Puma (2002) Th econfessions of an old Teddy bear (2004) Blinded Angels (2007) ( Feature film) Purity Beats Everything (2008) Just the right amount of Violence (2013)(Feature length documentary) Cats in Riga (2014)

World Sales:
C&C Productions
Jon Bang Carlsen
Blomtservaenget 52
Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +45 59654665