Arild Kristo (May 17, 1939 – July 7, 2010) was a Norwegian photographer, graphic designer, actor and filmmaker. He was considered one of the most creative photographers and filmmakers in Norway during the sixties, but also one of the most rejected.

Early life

Arild Kristo, born in Oslo, was the son of the cabaret singer and writer Einar Kristoffersen. At the age of 18 he enrolled on a commercial trade ship, spent a few months in New York and was offered a job as a sailor by the photographer Finn Bergan in the remake of

Windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...

. Kristo got photographic education at

ArtCenter College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

and received a letter of recommendation by the editor Richard Pollard at

Life (magazine) ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

Career

In Paris 1961 Arild Kristo took one of his most appreciated and highly priced photographs, ''The portrait painter on Montmartre'', now in the collection of the Norwegian National museum. Back in Oslo, he formed the picture agency Manité with the photographers Robert A. Robinson and Dan Young. In Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie he discovered the boy Manfred Stein, who played the lead in Kristo's first experiment in photojournalism. The series was purchased by

Look (American magazine) ''Look'' was a biweekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa, from 1937 to 1971, with editorial offices in New York City. It had an emphasis on photographs and photojournalism in addition to human interest and lifestyle art ...

and later was published in 17 other countries. In 1966 he created the short film ''Undergrunnen / The Underground'', a modernist view of the Oslo subway and the people using it. The film got big impact in the

art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

community and was invited to film festivals all over the world. Another short film ''Kristoball'' (1967) was directed before Arild Kristo made his feature film debut.

Eddie og Suzanne ''Eddie og Suzanne'' ( en, Eddie and Suzanne}) is a 1975 Norwegian drama film written and directed by Arild Kristo, starring Sverre Horge and Yvonne Sparrbåge. The film, a road movie inspired by such films as Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider ...

, a

road movie A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...

with a love theme, took six years to complete but landed 1975 in a critic and audience success. Sixteen years later, Kristo made an animated short film called ''Mirakelet / The Miracle'', which depicted the difficulty of funding his films.
As an actor, he participated in six films, studied

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

at the National Film Center in Oslo, and for Professor

Marketa Kimbrell Marketa Kimbrell (née Nitschová; August 1, 1928 – July 6, 2011) was a Czechoslovakian-born American actress and professor of acting and film directing. In 1970, she and actor Richard Levy founded the New York Street Theater Caravan, a theat ...

at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. In 2010, Marthe Stokvik produced the documentary ''The World of Arild Kristo'' for the film company Laterna Magica.

Filmography

As director

* 1966: ''Undergrunnen'' (12 min.) * 1967: ''Kristoball'' (11 min.) * 1975: ''Eddie og Suzanne'' (89 min.) * 1991: ''Mirakelet'' (13 min.)

As actor

* 1987: ''

Over grensen ''Over grensen'' (Over the Border) or ''Feldmann-saken'' (The Feldman Case) is a Norwegian drama film that premiered on February 19, 1987. Bjørn Sundquist won the Amanda Award for the best male lead for his performance in the film. Plot The fil ...

'' as a security head

Permanent collections

* ''The Portrait Artist on Montmartre'',

National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, Norway.

Awards

*World Press Photo, 1963.

References

External links

Arild Kristo official website

Imdb: Arild Kristo

Filmarkivet: Arild KristoFilmens Hus Oslo: Arild Kristo utställning 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kristo, Arild 1939 births 2010 deaths Photographers from Oslo