"BECOMING ASTRID" - Inspirations from the Berlin Premiere day on November 20, 2018 in Berlin
Berlin (Weltexpresso) - In "Becoming Astrid" (by Danish director: Pernille Fischer-Christensen) Alba August - the European Shooting Star of Berlinale 2018 - portrays with great freshness and intensity Astrid Lindgren in her years of early womanhood. Giving birth to her first child Lars, called Lasse, as a single mom, and due to social pressure having to hide him in a Danish foster family for a long time., as a single mom, and due to social pressure having to hide him in a Danish foster family for a long time.
The fact that Astrid Lindgren left her son behind and their mother-son bonding got out of hand because she could not be present enough, left the famous author of children and youth books from Sweden emotionally wounded with plenty of scars of guilt to always remember what they had gone through.
Most likely it was this traumatic experience that later contributed to Lindgren's unique choice of quite anarchic role models in rather unconventional stories. The main agenda for the inventor of Pippi, Emil, Karlsson, Lotta and the Children of Bullerby had become to strengthen children and adolescents in their rights and self-esteem. To free them from fear and shame, to heal and provide hope. It also feels that Astrid wanted to teach her young readers about the art of surviving no matter what happens, make them strong and guide them towards utmost independence.
While Pernille Fischer-Christensen's film "Becoming Astrid" explains in a convincing way the foundation of Lindgren's motivational spirit and success, it most definitely will forever stand out as Alba August's foundation for her aspiring acting career.
It was with this film project that Alba, who is born in summer 1993, found out about the real dimensions of tough things women hat to struggle and fight with throughout history.
The actress looks forward to playing more of these "strong female characters". Preferably "real women" - in movies directed by women. Fischer-Christensen's who in a depressed mood almost had given up the idea of finding a suitable actress for the role of the young Astrid Lindgren - "And then came Alba!" - sees great potential in Alba and compares her with her close friend Danish acting star Trine Dyrholm (who plays Lasse's warmhearted foster mom)."
A born actress who always loved to perform and entertain people ever since she was a child, Alba, however in 
real life, by no means is a pretender. During our conversation, she shows her authentic and honest self in a very pleasant and unpretentious way and tries to find her truest answers.
Alba's parents, Danish film director Bille August and Swedish film director and actress Pernilla August separated while she was still quite young. And missing her father seems to have not made life easier for her, she confirms in other interviews. And one understands this as well in our situation not only between the lines. Alba tends to share openly thoughts about her upbringing and aspects of her inner self.
Without any exaggeration: In every single respect it was a great pleasure and an honor to have met her.
Alba, what was the experience like to play this Scandinavian artist icon in "Becoming Astrid" (title: "Astrid" in Germany)?
Alba August: It was very nice to play the younger Astrid during this period that we know very little about - when she was not famous yet. I would have otherwise felt very affected by the omnipresent picture that we have of her. Everybody knows so much about Astrid Lindgren in her older days. But who knows, for example, that she was so involved as an activist in Second World War issues?
To play the biggest artist we have in Scandinavia is really a big chance, but also a big responsibility. How to take care of that? Of course, that has given me some extra motivation in this movie. Playing this heroin does give you an extra kind of “Get yourself together!”. That was needed because it was really, really hard to do this character. Just to be in every frame of the movie! And to give so much of yourself while doing that.
Your shooting schedule must have been extremely exhausting. How did you manage?
There was also a lot of preparation involved before the shooting period of two months. And then there was more work after that.
On many days my body and mind told me: “Stop immediately, you don't have any more energy left!” I think, that on those days it was the awareness of who I was playing that gave me the energy to jump back on the horse again.
Just to understand this right: Is Astrid Lindgren to you THE biggest Scandinavian artist OR the biggest female Scandinavian artist?
I would say she is one of the biggest Scandinavian artists. Because it's about children's books,
she must have influenced people in our countries more than we can imagine.
Were you, as a child or adolescent, personally connected with Astrid Lindgren, her books and characters? Did your parents read her stories to you?
I grew up with my Mum, and yes, she did read her stories to us. We had all of her books plus the movies that were made on the basis of them.
How did you like her stories? You are so young, much younger than me, and you grew up in a very artistic environment with lots of freedom in your upbringing to start with, I suppose. Moral support - as given by Pippi (Longstockings / Langstrump in Deutsch) - was probably less relevant for you than for me as a girl. So, what role did Astrid Lindgren’s characters play for you?
Some of her female characters were quite important and made me do things that they were doing. It also influenced me, not to take so much care of being pretty or what other people might think of you. Not to always try to be nice and perfect. Maybe during my childhood, these kinds of roles were a bit more accepted than during the period of time when you grew up. 
I, for example, read the books about “Madicken” (“Madita” in Deutsch) and I watched the Madicken movies a lot. The stories are about two sisters in an upper-class family who all the time do whatever they are not allowed to do. They take their mum’s dresses, bring things down to the lake, build something out of it and make them dirty. In Swedish, we call this “bussig”: doing things that you are not allowed to do! It's not about misbehaving on purpose, but more out of sheer boredom and because it’s fun. It’s just that doing so things fall into pieces.
Central in these stories is the relationship between the bigger sister and younger sister who both live so much in their fantasies, running around doing what they feel like. Two crazy sisters, the older one always telling the younger sister what to do. And she always believes in the bigger sister.
Does the “Madicken” setting remind you of your own relationship with your siblings?
I have many siblings and I grew up with two sisters. One of them is about 5 years older than me. Asta is the one who is 1,5 years older than me, and we were really close to each other. As kids, we were always running away from the house, playing with our fantasies, building new worlds and creating new characters all the time. We were really doing lots of crazy things that hopefully our mum does not know about.
Did you grow up in Stockholm?
When my parents got divorced my Mum moved with us to the country-side. Then, for a year, we even lived in a camping trailer. My mum said: “I will move here and build my own house!” And we were wondering how she was going to do this with three kids! (laughs) She often falls in love with an idea and is a bit naïve in a way. So, we lived in the country-side for a few years before moving to Stockholm “Gamla stan” - the old part of the town. A very touristic area and a very weird place to grow up in, but very safe: only tourists and no cars or drunk people.
With this upbringing, being the daughter of two film directors, not to forget that your mother also is an actress: It seems like you had no choice but become an actress yourself.
I always performed a lot. Whenever we had guests, my sister and I prepared something. And that could be anything: a dance, a speech or a little theatre play... We were always performing to these guests. And I was always pushed by Asta, who was a bit older to do like she did.
So, your childhood reality was indeed a bit as in the “Madicken” stories! And you became an actress - at a still pretty young age.
I started to play in a Musical group. “Zazu” was the first role I was playing – in “The Lion King”. A really crazy experience! I was so nervous and felt like I could not get on the stage.
You always had this strong drive to perform - as if it was second nature?
I'm not sure what it is, but I was always kind of addicted to get a reaction from an audience. If I had not become an actress, I guess I would have done some other job that includes performances. Or I would have done something performative in my leisure time - along with another, non-performative profession.
Actually, I started theatre school because I was really, really bad in school. As a kid, I could not hear what the teachers were talking about. (laughs) There was something with my concentration.
Without wanting to get too personal: Would you say that you could have been diagnosed with an ADD disposition? I mention because so many actors have told me about this...
Yeah, perhaps! I always thought of something else. But I remembered exactly what people were wearing and how they were walking, and their facial expressions. I remembered all these things that, I guess, lots of the other kids didn’t register. I noticed the details of human behavior. Instead of listening to people and getting what they were saying, I was just observing.
What did the incarnation of young Astrid Lindgren do to you on a profound level? You dived so deep into her life and in this period of history when women had to fight so much for their rights. Also, to be confronted with her trauma as a young unmarried mother who had to hide her child for such a long time. On top of that to deal with her relevance with regard to children’s rights: Did that experience change you and gave you something like a maturity kick?
Wow! That’s a big question!
Before this movie, I actually did not know so much about women’s history from this period of time. When I started reading a lot about this, my reaction was: “Is this true?” For example, when I was reading about these women going through the same thing as Astrid or even worse. I didn’t know that women were so brave throughout history. This, because there always was and is a lot of talk about men and the war, but not about the women.
Then I realized that all these women have been like fucking fighters. That they really went through these rough things alone - with so much pressure from society.
Unfortunately, history as a whole has been written out of a male perspective only. Do you in that sense perceive this movie about Astrid Lindgren as a memorial for this generation of suppressed women?
When we show the movie, we meet all these people who had grandmothers or mothers who went through the same as Astrid. And they tell us about so many stories that these women have gone through and about their cruel destinies. Like for example even killing themselves and their kid. Or we hear about people who took their kids away from them, against their will. This is also why many of these women ended up in mental hospitals. It was very tough to find out about what all these many women had to go through.
In a way, with this movie we throw these stories into people’s face, to shake them up – to make them see and acknowledge all of that.
Besides your highly praised role in cinema as Astrid Lindgren, you are also very present in the Danish Netflix series “The Rain”. Your main character Simone becomes a warrior to save not only her little brother but to fight for society to recover from a catastrophe.
What are the things you want to fight for, Alba? What are the issues that are dear to your heart?
There are lots of issues, and some of them are big. Of course, to me, it’s about equal rights.
To start with myself and my situation: I want to have the same rights as my male colleagues and tell stories about strong female characters, about real women. Such stories are often written by other women. There have to be more female writers, directors, and producers. Out of that, we will have more diversity and more realistic and more truthful stories about women. I could go on and on... - It’s a big question.
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P.S.: But we cannot go on... Unfortunately. The PR agent comes to bring Alba to her lunch break. The day will be long, there are still plenty of tv interviews, a premiere in the evening and a gala dinner after the movie screening...
At the sold-out premiere at "Delphi", one of Berlin's biggest and nicest cinemas, Alba shows up in a trouser suit in light powder blue with glitter applications. The pastel color suits her well, and her friendly, down to earth appearance becomes a sheer delight for everybody who is present.
During the premiere screening, Alba sits next to director Pernille Fischer Christensen and Per Thöresson, the Swedish ambassador to Germany. As an introduction to the movie about the Swedish icon he talks to the audience. And in perfect German with a slight Swiss accent, the diplomat highlights Astrid Lindgren's international relevance to raise awareness about children’s rights, to insist on abolishing physical and psychological abuse.
The audience on November 20, 2018 also learns about Astrid Lindgren's strong commitment to environmental and animal protection. Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (née Ericsson) from Vimmerby, was so much more than a gifted Swedish writer of children books to have fun with and be distracted. Alba August portrayal of the icon of Swedish literature as this stubborn and sensitive person who dared to break with bad rules touches deeply and stays with us.
During the months after the launch of "Becoming Astrid" in European movie theatres, another young Swedish icon has written history by breaking bad and stupid rules for a greater good: Greta Thunberg her name!
Sometimes things nicely fall into place. - Chapeau, Astrid! Chapeau, Alba! Chapeau, Greta!
Photos: #7 Per Thöresson (Swedish Ambassador to Germany), Pernille Fischer Christensen (film director), Alba August (actress) / © Elke P. Eich
INFOS:
"Becoming Astrid" / International Title
"Unga Astrid" / Original Title - Languages: Schwedish, Danish
"Astrid" /German Title - Dubbed in German
DVD + Blu-ray launch: May 24, 2019
Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen
Music composed by: Nicklas Schmidt
suitable age: 6+
CAST:
Alba August Astrid Lindgren
Maria Bonnevie Hanna
Trine Dyrholm Marie
Henrik Rafaelsen Blomberg
Magnus Krepper Samuel
Bjorn Gustafsson Sture
Eric Ericson Doctor
etc...
CREW:
Pernille Fischer Christensen Screenwriter, Director, Screen Story
Kim Fupz Aakeson Screen Story, Screenwriter
Erik Molberg Hansen Cinematographer
Nicklas Schmidt Composer (Music Score)
etc...
