Nordisk Film (USA affiliate:
Great Northern Film Company), established in
Denmark in 1906 by
Danish filmmaker
Ole Olsen, is the oldest continuously active film studio in the world. It is the third oldest studio in the world behind
Gaumont and
Pathé. Olsen started his company in the
Copenhagen suburb of
Valby under the name "Ole Olsen's Film Factory" but soon changed it to the Nordisk Film Kompagni. In 1908, Olsen opened an affiliate branch in New York, the Great Northern Film Company, to handle distribution of his films to the American market. As Nordisk Film, it became a
publicly traded company in 1911.