Bengt Idestam-Almquist (9 September 1895 – 16 September 1983) was a Swedish

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, critic and film historian. The

Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the ''Filmhuset'' building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm. The building, comp ...

calls him the "''father of Swedish film criticism''". At the

3rd Guldbagge Awards The 3rd Guldbagge Awards ceremony, presented by the Swedish Film Institute, honored the best Swedish 1965 and 1966, and took place on 17 October 1966. ''Heja Roland!'' directed by Bo Widerberg was presented with the award for Best Film. Awards * ...

he won a Special Achievement award. He was a member of the jury at the

15th Venice International Film Festival The 15th Venice International Film Festival was held from 22 August to 7 September 1954. Writer Ignazio Silone was appointed as president of the jury. The Golden Lion was awarded to ''Romeo and Juliet'', directed by Renato Castellani. Jury Main ...

in 1954. Idestam-Almquist, who was the son of a Riksvensk father and a

Swedish-speaking Finn The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names; fi, suomenruotsalainen) can be used as an attribute., group=Note—see below; sv, finlandssvenskar; fi, suomenruotsalaiset) is a linguistic minority in Finl ...

mother, was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, Finland, and grew up in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russian Empire. He later fled to Sweden with his family during the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

and studied art history in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

. His fascination with film came after watching a silent film with a

benshi were Japanese performers who provided live narration for silent films (both Japanese films and Western films). ''Benshi'' are sometimes called or . Role The earliest films available for public display were produced by Western studios, portraying ...

while serving the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. He was awarded the

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gust ...

in 1983.

Selected filmography

* ''

A Crime ''A Crime'' (French title: ''Un crime'') is a 2006 thriller film directed by Manuel Pradal, written by Pradal and Tonino Benacquista, and starring Emmanuelle Béart. The film unfolds the story of Vincent (Norman Reedus) who looks for his wife's ...

'' (1940) * '' A Real Man'' (1940) * '' The Three of Us'' (1940) * '' Life Goes On'' (1941) * ''

The Poor Millionaire ''The Poor Millionaire'' is a 1930 American silent drama film directed by George Melford and starring Richard Talmadge, Constance Howard and George Irving. Made after the sound film revolution, it was the last Hollywood film to be released w ...

'' (1941)

References

External links

* * 1895 births 1983 deaths Swedish male screenwriters People from Turku 20th-century Swedish screenwriters 20th-century Swedish male writers Naturalized citizens of Sweden Swedish people of Finnish descent Swedish-speaking Finns Recipients of the Illis quorum Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Sweden {{Sweden-film-bio-stub