Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ADAM PRICE - CREATOR OF TV SERIES BORGEN
HOW CLOSE IS BORGEN TO REAL-LIFE DANISH POLITICS?
The tone of the series and the dilemmas are quite true to Danish politics. We spoke to
several spin-doctors, politicians, and political journalists when researching, and we'd
pitch every finished storyline to the political editor of the DR (Danish Broadcasting Cor-
poration) news department, who was our barometer of realism. We'd call him the show's
'evil uncle'.
WHY DO YOU THINK THE SERIES RESONATES INTERNATIONALLY?
People can see themselves in the characters' lives. Protagonist Birgitte Nyborg's main
challenge is balancing her private and professional life. This is a common dilemma for
modern people. Her pain is real. She is not the typical, cynical stereotype of a politician.
WHAT'S THE SECRET TO THE SUCCESS OF DANISH TV DRAMA?
The DR has been behind most of Denmark's international successes. It's hard to get the
green light from them, but once they agree to a show, they give full power to the producer
and head writer. You'll never have a senior executive come and personally want to influen-
ce your writing. This saves the work from being distorted by too many compromises.
Acclaimed for its rich visual textures and innovative use of close-ups,
La Passion de
Jeanne d'Arc
(1928) by director Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968) was named the most
influential film of all time in a list of the 'Essential 100' published by the Toronto Interna-
tional Film Festival in 2010.
Academy Success
Although Danish cinema stretches back to the end of the 19th-century, it wasn't until the
1980s that Danish directors attracted a broader international audience, with a swag of
trophies to prove it.
Director Gabriel Axel's
Babette's Feast
(1987) won the Academy Award for Best For-
eign Film in 1998. An exploration of the impact a French housekeeper has on two pious
sisters, the film is an adaptation of a story by Karen Blixen, whose novel
Out of Africa
had
been turned into an Oscar-winning Hollywood movie just three years earlier.
