Christiania’s chief archivist Ole Lykke, who has lived and worked in the Freetown since 1979, presents a slide show and speaks about Christiania’s eventful 50-year history from an insider’s point of view.

Against the backdrop of the ‘original ideals’ from the 1970s, the subjects addressed include daily life in Christiania, how the Freetown is organised internally and externally, the theatre troupe Solvognen, the trials, hash and hard drugs, PusherStreet, the biker gang wars, the police, tourists and visitors, cultural life, the physical set-up of housing and jobs in Christiania, the establishment of infrastructure, the recurring threats of closure and the eight years of negotiations in the 00s that led to Christiania’s current status as a foundation-owned and leased district operating under the same rules as the rest of Denmark.

Ole Lykke is a trained teacher specialising in Danish and History. He taught at the Danish Higher Prepartory Examination Programme (HF) for eight years before his participation in the Blockade against Hard Drugs in December 1979 marked the start of his life in Christiania. Ole Lykke has worked as a photographer, lecturer, editor of the CA newspaper Ugespejlet, been a spokesman for Christiania in the media and taken part in Christiania’s internal organisation and in negotiations with the Danish state, the City of Copenhagen and other external authorities. Since 2010 he has been head of Christiania’s Local History Archive.

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Lokation: The cinema at Kunsthal Charlottenborg
The event is in Danish

In coorporation with The Why Foundation Kunsthal Charlottenborg screens the documentary ‘Marathon Boy’ (2010).

In the film we meet the Indian boy Budhia Singh, who at the age of three had already run six half marathons. By four he was making it the full 42 km. His biggest dream is to one day run his way to the Olympics. But as you almost instinctively suspect, this dream is not only his own making. Behind the marathon running wonder child, adoptive father and coach Biranchi, is riding his bike. A man who is self-funding an orphanage and judo school and who does everything in his power to draw attention to Budhia and his unusual skills. When the local child welfare office intervenes, a political battle breaks out, with Budhia as its center. And when his biological mother shows up to claim her now famous son, with the slum mafia backing her, the boy’s position as a pawn in the game of adults trying to take advantage of his talent, becomes tragically obvious. Marathon Boy is a story about the desperate need for cathartic success stories that can exist in a country like India, and an insight into, how some adults will go to great lengths to exploit children in the process.

Director: Gemma Atwal. Run Time: 45 min.