Ola's Borgen 2016

The originally Syrian Ola Mafaalani edited the successful Danish drama series Borgen, about female minister president Brigitte Nyborg, to a ten-hour theater marathon. It is her magnus opus and goodbye as artistic director of the North Dutch Theater (NNT). More than ever, the themes are linked to her personal life, such as the spell between work and family and the political dilemmas surrounding the refugee stream from her native country. 'Adam, I have to do this because I am Birgitte Nyborg, I am Birgitte, it's my story!' With this exclamation, Ola Mafaalani convinced scenario writer Adam Price to give her the rights of his Danish television script. In fact, he gave her an urgent task: "Make it sharp, as current as possible. Please make any changes you want and make it hurt! " The NNT brings Borgen the phenomenon 'binge-watching' for the first time to the theater. The critics are promising, but professional success is linked to personal pain, as director Carin Goeijers makes clear in this documentary. She is in the theater at times when the chaos and confusion on the scene do not seem to be more soluble, and at times when Ola is struggling with her position as a child of Syrian parents. After every telephone conversation with her mother - volunteer in a refugee camp in Germany - she wondered if she should not do anything essentially...