Liberty chronicles the lives of two expat families in Tanzania in the 1980s. It is a fascinating, humorous and brutal portrait of Western expats, whose ‘best intentions’ clash with local cultural differences and opposition.

In the starring roles are Sofie Gråbøl, Connie Nielsen, Carsten Bjørlund, Magnus Krepper, Charlie Kamuri and newcomer Anton Hjejle.

We caught up with producer Karoline Leth just prior to the screening in Berlin.

What was the genesis for Liberty? When did you and your brother Asger Leth come up with the idea of adapting Jakob Ejersbo’s eponymous book for television?
Karoline Leth: I read the book when it was published in 2009 and was totally gripped. I've had some experience as life as an expat in Haiti, a country of African descendants. I felt I knew exactly what the writer was talking about. At the time someone else had the rights, so I let it go.

Then a few years later, my brother Asger read the book. We got in touch with Jakob Ejersbo’s literary agent who handles the rights on behalf of his heirs - as Jakob died in 2008. We realised the rights were available and we closed a deal.

The series is a step in a new direction for DR who hasn’t done a book adaptation in several years…
KL: Yes. But Piv Bernth [then DR Head of Drama] understood the importance of the book and was convinced when she learned exactly how Asger was going to transform the book into a drama series. Liberty is a masterpiece and an essential book about our history, about Scandinavian history. It deals with post-colonialism, humanitarian aid in the 80s, how we Scandinavians, with our ‘best intentions’, tried to help Africans but didn’t quite succeed. It’s also a very contemporary story about life as an expat and cultural clashes.

What biggest decisions had to be taken to boil down the 712-page saga about humanitarian aid, broken dreams and personal downfall into a 5-part TV drama?
KL: The book is essentially a coming of age story, about the young Christian [son of a Danish expat family involved in aid work] and Marcus [young African boy living for the Larsson family, dreaming of a better life].

The story unfolds through the eyes and minds of the young boys who observe the adults. We felt we had to turn it around for television, and Asger got a grip of how to do it. He went deeper into the adult story and rebuilt it into a multi-plot with six main characters [the two boys and four adults], to give flesh to the adults’ lives and create a cross cultural and cross generational drama.

For the adaptation, Asger was able to draw from his own experience of partly growing up in Haiti, and in fact, he knew almost all the characters from real life in Haiti.

Did Asger work in a writers’ room?
KL: Yes. He had episode writers Morten Pape and Christoffer Örnfelt with him in a writers’ room.  They went carefully through the book, the characters, put it out as a scheme, trying to figure out where to cut. We also had to tighten the timespan. The book spans across a decade and we wanted things to unfold in a shorter timeframe to keep the same actors playing Christian and Marcus.

When you do a literary adaptation, you can only do wrong as people have a personal interpretation of what they read. But the script takes the very core of the story and characters. It stands on its own and our director Mikael Marcimain added all the intensity of the book.

Why did you choose Mikael Marcimain, a Swedish director, for the adaptation of this landmark Danish literary work?
KL: Mikael read the script first and then read the book. This was ideal as he didn’t come with the apprehension that one can have when adapting a major novel. Also being a Swede allowed him to be braver. He has his own boldness, visual style that fit perfectly for the story and he had directed several period pieces [Call Girl, Gentlemen].

For you, what is the core of Liberty and what makes it unique?
KL: I think it’s crucial that we tell this historical story, through interesting and varied characters. But it’s not specifically about Scandinavians coming to Africa and having to deal with corruption and the reality of a foreign culture. It’s mostly about what happens inside of you, when you’re not in a society where things are under control, and where you’re told what’s right or wrong. What do you do when suddenly you have a lot of freedom? You are then confronted with yourself, your own limits and morale.

Why did you shoot in South Africa and not in Tanzania where the original story is set?
KL: For budget reasons, we had to travel with a small Danish crew of 10 people and therefore needed a well-established local film production infrastructure. The film industry in Tanzania is simply not developed enough, so we created our own Tanzania in South Africa, and shot in Pretoria and Johannesburg (instead of Cape Town where most productions are shot) because it looks like Eastern Africa.

How was the filming there?
KL: It was intense, very hard, but fantastic as well. We were there 72 days in 2 periods, with a 6-day working week. At the beginning of the shoot, I had a talk with the Danish crew and South African crew of around 60 people and said: “We are going to live the theme of the book and series. We will have the same cultural clashes…and it just happened as predicted. We’re used to a small crew and being flexible, South Africans were working with other methods, closer to the American way, and to make things worse, we tried to control things our own way. So after a week or so, I told my Danish crew: “We can’t prevent the fact that there is such a huge cultural working difference between us, we have to embrace it. Otherwise we will all lose.”

On a human standpoint, we had a wonderful experience. We all spoke different languages -English, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Swahili with Kenyans, Zulu, Sotho and Xhosa with South Africans. We laughed a lot and made many friends.

Tell me about the actors. Who did the casting?
KL: The casting was almost in place when Mikael Marcimain came on board. I did a lot of the casting myself with our casting agent. Already in the writers’ room, we started thinking of whom we’d like for the characters and it was crucial for us to get big names.

Carsten Bjørnlund was a big wish from the beginning and the first actor to be confirmed. Sofie Gråbøl loved the book, and Connie Nielsen is a huge fan of Ejersbo. She also runs an aid organisation in Kenya, and I had done a Danish film with her set in Kenya - Lost in Africa. Asger thought of Magnus Krepper while writing the script;

Newcomer Anton Hjejle [who plays Christian] is in a theatre school and we took him out for five months, then Charlie Kamuri from Kenya [Marcus] was suggested by our South African partners. He’s just amazing.


The show is dark, sensual, provocative. Would you call this typical DR signature material?
KL: Mikael Marcimain said: “This is not Nordic noir, this is’’Scandi colourbox”. It’s not grey, dark, but very colourful and vibrant. We wanted to keep our DR Drama tradition but renew ourselves at the same time.

How do you feel about presenting Liberty at the official Berlinale Special programme, on the red carpet, just like a major feature film?
KL: I think it’s amazing. Being selected for the Berlinale Special is an honour, as it’s quite competitive to get in. It’s great to screen the series in a big cinema, with an audience. These days, it is harder to finance films as many people are more reluctant to take risks, whereas with TV drama, it’s a booming business and artistically it’s very thrilling. Therefore, it is smart of Berlin organisers to offer a prestigious platform to TV drama. But for DR, Liberty is first and foremost for a Danish and Scandinavian audience.