‘Safe House’ Tells Real-Life Story of Aid Worker’s Harrowing Plight

An explosive confrontation between a Muslim man and a Christian mob in an African nation on the brink is at the heart of “Safe House,” an upcoming drama from Norwegian filmmaker Eirik Svensson. The film, which is being repped internationally by TrustNordisk, was presented among the works in progress this week at the Finnish Film Affair in Helsinki.

Written by prolific screenwriters Harald Rosenløw-Eeg and Lars Gudmestad, “Safe House” is based on the real-life story of Lindis Hurum, a Norwegian field worker with the aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) who was stationed in the Central African Republic when civil war erupted in 2013.

The story unfolds on Christmas Eve at a field hospital outside a refugee camp in the capital, Bangui. As Hurum and her colleagues tirelessly work to save lives, a desperate Muslim man rushes into the clinic, fleeing persecution by an angry Christian mob. As the crowd outside grows and a Christian militia demands the man be handed over to be summarily executed, Hurum — played by Kristine Kujath Thorp — must act quickly, knowing the decision to save his life could put herself and the rest of her team at risk.

“Safe House” is the sixth feature for Svensson, whose previous credits include “One Night In Oslo” and the Holocaust drama “Betrayed.” The film is produced by Catrin Gundersen and Hugo Hagermann Fosker for Norway’s Fantefilm (“The Arctic Convoy,” “The North Sea”) and is slated for early-2025 local release by Nordisk Film.

“Growing up, I thought that the world could and would only become a better and safer place year by year, and that a peaceful world without hunger and disaster was possible,” Svensson told Variety. “I think many of us have been reminded recently that peace, the feeling of a common humanity, or the worth of each and every one of us as single human beings, is not to be taken for granted. This story is one of many stories in the world from recent years that are either untold or soon forgotten but deserves to be known.”

“Safe House” is based on Hurum’s autobiographical book “Det finnes ingen de andre — det er bare oss” (There Is No One Else — There Is Only Us), which draws on her experiences as a relief worker in the face of humanitarian crises including the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the civil war in Central African Republic, the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in Liberia and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean.

Focusing on “an almost undescribed conflict in one of the least-visited countries in the world,” Svensson said he wanted to tell his story from the perspective of aid workers and local inhabitants as a way for audiences to “really connect to the victims of war.”

“It was a way to discuss what responsibility (and possibilities) each and every one of us have to make a difference, or at least a contribution to a different world and the life of others,” he said. “This film is of course not only to inform or enlighten the audience. Hopefully it’s also a way to get us all personally and emotionally engaged. We live in a world of mass media images and news stories that are both terrifying and numbing. 

“My hope is that the movie will be a vivid and realistic look into the role and experience of humanitarian workers,” he continued. “I think most of us don’t know or reflect on the fact that nine out of 10 of the aid workers in a situation like this are locals, so it’s also a story about how a local community tries to deal with a conflict that tears them apart.”

Thorp, whose credits include Nikolaj Arcel’s 2023 Venice Golden Lion contender “The Promised Land,” leads an international cast that includes Bibi Tanga, Alexander Karim, Tracy Gotoas, Alma Poysti and Mattis Herman Nyquist.

The film is co-produced by Film i Väst, Cinenic Film, ReelMedia and Nordisk Film.