He received a Bodil Honorary Award in 2002 for his "long-standing contribution to Danish film literature".
[2][3] Piil was a film critic at Berlingske Tidende 1962–67, and has since then been at Dagbladet Information where he has also written about literature and rock music.
[4] Piil has written several reference works on Danish cinema.
His three books published on Gyldendal, Danske filmskuespillere ("Danish film actors") (2001), a monograph on 525 actors active in the period 1930–2001,[5] Danske filminstruktører ("Danish filmmakers") (2005), detailing 120 Danish film directors active between 1930 and 2005,[6] and Gyldendals danske filmguide ("Gyldendals Danish film guide") (2008), a description of 1200 Danish feature films — virtually every major film release from 1930 to 2008,[7] poses with a total volume of approximately 1,800 pages the most comprehensive survey of Danish film and the main figures behind it.
[8][9] Piil has translated three works of Vladimir Nabokov to Danish.