CAFx at CPH:DOX: Christiania
Christiania is one of the world's most iconic social experiments. After 50 years of big dreams, strong tobacco and anarchy, this colourful neighbourhood finally got the film its colourful history deserves.
In 1971, hundreds of young people occupied some abandoned army barracks in Copenhagen, and Christiania was born. A wild experiment in freedom and community that became a real alternative to mainstream society.
Filmmaker Karl Friis Forchhammer tells the story of how the self-declared freetown with love and a twinkle in his eye. A story told from the inside about radical democracy and free creativity, but also about violence, drugs and pressure from the outside world. About the idealism of the new settlers, the hippies, a religious doomsday sect, an alcoholic bear and consensus democracy. About how gangs entered the hash market, the battle for Pusher Street and the Christianites’ attempts to once again set limits on what the community should accommodate.
Christiania is a compelling piece of Danish cultural history, full of the colourful and serious stories that have shaped a community over 50 years. A special place on the map that is entirely its own and still fighting to remain so.
