Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
is known for including many acclaimed films; during the 20th century the industry was the most prominent of
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
. This is largely due to the popularity and prominence of directors
Victor Sjöström
Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...
and especially
Ingmar Bergman; and more recently
Roy Andersson,
Lasse Hallström,
Lukas Moodysson
Karl Fredrik Lukas Moodysson (; born 17 January 1969) is a Swedish novelist, short story writer and film director. First coming to prominence as an ambitious poet in the 1980s, he had his big domestic and international breakthrough directing the ...
and
Ruben Östlund
Ruben Östlund (born 13 April 1974) is a Swedish filmmaker best known for his black comedic and satirical films ''Force Majeure'' (2014), '' The Square'' (2017) and '' Triangle of Sadness'' (2022), all of which received largely positive reviews an ...
.
Early Swedish cinema
Swedish filmmaking rose to international prominence when
Svenska Biografteatern
SF Studios is a Swedish film and television production and distribution company (both Swedish and international) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The studio is owned by Nordic media congl ...
moved from
Kristianstad
Kristianstad (, ; older spelling from Danish ''Christianstad'') is a city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 40,145 inhabitants in 2016. During the last 15 years, it has gone from a garrison town to a devel ...
to
Lidingö
Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 31,561. It is ...
in 1911. During the next decade the company's two star-directors,
Victor Sjöström
Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...
and
Mauritz Stiller
Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Swedish film director of Finnish Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America.
Stiller had been a pioneer of the Swedish film ...
, produced many silent films, some being adaptations of stories by the Nobel-prizewinning novelist
Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish author. She published her first novel, '' Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she wa ...
. Sjöström's most respected films often made use of the Swedish landscape. Stiller fostered the early popularity of
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...
, particularly through the ''
Gösta Berlings saga'' (1924). Many of the films made at the Biografteatern had a significant impact on German directors of the silent and early sound eras, largely because Germany remained cut off from French, British, and American influences through
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(1914–1918).
The global expansion of the United States after World War I had its consequences in the dynamics of cinema and changed previous favorable market conditions that benefited Sweden's film exports to Europe. During wartimes,
Hollywood not only was able to conquer its domestic market but also managed to increase its exports to European countries - which produced fewer films during wartime - and even to
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
. The neutrality of Sweden could have been translated in the fortification of its film industry, which to some extent was true since its production grew relatively during this period, but its market share declined severely. While in 1913, the last year before the War, the American share in Sweden was only about 4%; in 1919, the first year after the war, it was 80%.
Facing the exponential growth of US films and its dominance domestically and internationally, Swedish film production, according to
Jan Olsson, "operated with a Nordic
home base" and felt compelled to adapt its market strategies to the new context to regain relevance. The order of the day was to stop what was called the risk of becoming not only the country but the whole continent a "colony of Film America". The monopolistic organization of
Svensk Filmindustri
SF Studios is a Swedish film and television production and distribution company (both Swedish and international) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The studio is owned by Nordic media cong ...
in 1919 and also its further model of co-productions with other European film companies are one of the first expressions of the paradox that characterized the attempt of consolidating simultaneously a
national
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 ...
and a
transnational cinema Transnational cinema is a developing concept within film studies that encompasses a range of theories relating to the effects of globalization upon the cultural and economic aspects of film. It incorporates the debates and influences of postnationa ...
. The difficulty of delimiting how the production begins and ends is not the only restriction that makes these theoretical frameworks potentially problematic, but the multiple discourses that each film express reinforces the complexity that is a supposed property of cultural expressions.
To make Swedish films more appealing to the audiences, the challenge was the maintenance of their specificity - stories with a background based on literature about Nordic countryside was one of the "national" trademarks - with some aspects that made Hollywood successful, such as an agile narrative pace. The new market dynamics established new different aesthetic expressions for Swedish cinema and its narratives expressed the duality between
cosmopolitanism and Swedish heritage. ''
Flickan i frack'' (Girl in Tails,
Arne Mattson, 1926), for example, represents the convergence of these different perspectives with its portrayal of an urban
Stockholm contrasting with the countryside and the desire of the protagonist to become an independent woman but also to be recognized by the Swedish traditionalism.
The attempts of constructing a national cinema able to be also universal was a response to the Hollywood dominance, which, in the end, is the consequence of the consolidation of the United States economic supremacy; after all, European films were not able to develop the same capacity of escalation in production and exhibition. The capitalist tendency of constituting monopolies and concentrating wealth is extended also to cinema. By the end of the 1920s, all major US exhibitors had offices in Sweden.
In the mid-twenties, Sjöström Stiller, and Garbo moved to the United States to work for
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
, bringing Swedish influence to Hollywood. The departure left a vacuum in Swedish cinema, which subsequently went into a financial crisis. Both directors later returned to Sweden, but Stiller died soon after his return while Sjöström returned to theatre work for most of the remainder of his career.
The advent of the
talking movie at the beginning of the 1930s brought about a financial stabilization for Swedish cinema, but the industry sacrificed artistic and international ambitions for this financial success. Some provincial comedies emerged, created for the local market.
Swedish cinema through WWII
During World War II Swedish cinema gained artistically, mainly due to the directors
Gustaf Molander
Gustaf Harald August Molander (18 November 1888 – 19 June 1973) was a Swedish actor and film director. His parents were director Harald Molander, Sr. (1858–1900) and singer and actress Lydia Molander, ''née'' Wessler, and his brother was th ...
,
Alf Sjöberg
Sven Erik Alf Sjöberg (21 June 1903 – 17 April 1980) was a Swedish theatre and film director. He won the Grand Prix du Festival at the Cannes Film Festival twice: in 1946 for '' Torment'' ( sv, Hets) (part of an eleven-way tie), and in 1951 ...
,
Hasse Ekman
Hasse Ekman (born Hans Gösta Ekman; 10September 191515February 2004) was a Swedish director, actor, writer and producer for film, stage and television.
Biography
Hasse Ekman is probably Sweden's most successful and critically acclaimed film ...
,
Anders Henrikson
Anders Henrik Henrikson (13 June 1896 – 17 October 1965) was a Swedish actor and film director. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1913 and 1965. He also directed 30 films between 1933 and 1956.
Selected filmography Actor
* '' The ...
and
Hampe Faustman
Erik "Hampe" Faustman (born Erik Stellan Chatham; 3 July 1919 – 26 August 1961) was a Swedish actor and film director. He appeared in more than 20 films between 1940 and 1961. He also directed 20 films between 1943 and 1955. He was married ...
.
Post-war
The influential Swedish filmmaker
Ingmar Bergman rose to prominence in the fifties after he began making films in the mid-forties. His 1955 film ''
Smiles of a Summer Night
''Smiles of a Summer Night'' ( sv, Sommarnattens leende) is a 1955 Swedish comedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was shown at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005 ''TIME'' magazine ranked it one of the 100 greatest films s ...
'' brought him international attention. A year later, he made one of his most famous films, ''
The Seventh Seal
''The Seventh Seal'' ( sv, Det sjunde inseglet) is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and a game of ch ...
''. In the 1960s, Bergman won the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for two consecutive years, with ''
The Virgin Spring
''The Virgin Spring'' ( sv, Jungfrukällan) is a 1960 Swedish rape and revenge film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a tale about a father's merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was a ...
'' (''Jungfrukällan'') in 1960 and ''
Through a Glass Darkly'' (''Såsom i en spegel'') in 1961. He won the award again in 1983, for the period family drama ''
Fanny and Alexander
''Fanny and Alexander'' ( sv, Fanny och Alexander) is a 1982 period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. ...
'' (''Fanny och Alexander''). Bergman was nominated once for the
Best Picture award, for the 1973 film ''
Cries and Whispers
''Cries and Whispers'' ( sv, Viskningar och rop, lit=Whispers and Cries) is a 1972 Swedish period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film, set in ...
'' (''Viskningar och rop''), the story of two sisters watching over their third sister's deathbed, both afraid she might die, but hoping she does. It lost to ''
The Sting
''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw).'' Variety'' film review; December 12, 1973, pag ...
''. Although it was not nominated in the
Foreign Language
A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...
category, gave Bergman the first of three nominations for
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
. Bergman also won four
Golden Globe Awards for
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
.
Working closely with Bergman,
cinematographer Sven Nykvist
Sven Vilhem Nykvist (; 3 December 1922 – 20 September 2006) was a Swedish cinematographer. He worked on over 120 films, but is known especially for his work with director Ingmar Bergman. He won Academy Awards for his work on two Bergman fil ...
had a major impact on the visual aspects of Swedish cinema. Twice the recipient of the
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture.
History
In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) w ...
, for ''Cries and Whispers'' and ''Fanny and Alexander'', Nykvist is considered by many to be one of the greatest cinematographers. He also directed ''
The Ox'' (''Oxen'') (1991), nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992.
Also starting his career working with Bergman,
Vilgot Sjöman
David Harald Vilgot Sjöman (2 December 1924 – 9 April 2006) was a Swedish writer and film director. His films deal with controversial issues of social class, morality, and sexual taboos, combining the emotionally tortured characters of Ingm ...
debuted in 1962 with ''
The Mistress'' (''Älskarinnan''), but attracted far wider attention in Sweden when his film ''
491'' was banned by Swedish censors due to its explicit sexual content. After cutting, it was released in 1964. Sjöman went on to cause even wider controversy, depicting
sexual intercourse in his 1967 film ''
I Am Curious (Yellow)
''I Am Curious (Yellow)'' (, meaning "I Am Curious: A Film in Yellow") is a 1967 Swedish erotic drama film written and directed by Vilgot Sjöman, starring Sjöman and Lena Nyman. It is a companion film to 1968's ''I Am Curious (Blue)''; the t ...
'' (''Jag är nyfiken – gul''). The United States considered it to be pornography; it was seized by the customs and banned. When the film was eventually released in 1969, the publicity gained from the legal fight and its revolutionary graphic content drew huge crowds, making it the most successful Swedish film export ever, and the most successful foreign film in the US up to this point. Most probably it was instrumental in establishing a view of Swedish cinema – and perhaps of Swedes in general – as having a liberal attitude towards sexuality.
Another Swedish postwar filmmaker of note is
Bo Widerberg
Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Swedish film director, writer, editor and actor.
Biography Early life
Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden.
Career
Widerberg was the director of films such as ''Rave ...
. His 1963 film ''
Raven's End
''Raven's End'' ( sv, Kvarteret Korpen) is a 1963 Swedish drama film directed by Bo Widerberg, about an aspiring working-class writer in Malmö. The story bears some similarities to Widerberg's own background, although he claimed it to be entirely ...
'' (''Kvarteret Korpen'') and ''
The Man on the Roof
''The Man on the Roof'' ( sv, Mannen på taket) is a 1976 Swedish police procedural- thriller film directed by Bo Widerberg. It is based on the 1971 novel ''The Abominable Man'' by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. The film stars Carl-Gustaf Lindste ...
'' (''Mannen på taket'') are widely regarded as classics. His later works include ''
The Man from Majorca
''The Man from Majorca'' ( sv, Mannen från Mallorca) is a 1984 Swedish crime thriller film directed by Bo Widerberg. It is based on the novel ''The Pig Party'' by Leif G. W. Persson. The film stars Sven Wollter and Tomas von Brömssen.
The nove ...
'' (''Mannen från Mallorca''), ''
The Serpent's Way
''The Serpent's Way'' ( sv, Ormens väg på hälleberget) is a 1986 Swedish drama film directed by Bo Widerberg. It is based on the novel The Way of a Serpent by Torgny Lindgren. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 198 ...
'' (''Ormens väg på hälleberget'') and ''
All Things Fair
''All Things Fair'' ( sv, Lust och fägring stor, literally "Great Lust and Beauty") is a Swedish erotic drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 3 November 1995. Written and directed by Bo Widerberg, the film is about a sexual relati ...
'' (''Lust och fägring stor''). Widerberg received three Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign-Language Film, ''Raven's End'', ''
Ådalen 31
''Ådalen 31'' (; released in the United States as ''Adalen Riots'') is a 1969 Swedish drama film directed by Bo Widerberg. It depicts the 1931 Ådalen shootings, in which Swedish military forces opened fire against labour demonstrators in the ...
'' and ''All Things Fair'', but never won.
Jan Troell
Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish writer-director, and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with ...
started his career as Widerberg's director of photography, but could soon debut with his own film ''
Here's Your Life'' (''Här har du ditt liv''). He went on to direct ''
The Emigrants'' (''Utvandrarna'') in 1971 and its sequel ''
The New Land
''The New Land'' ( sv, Nybyggarna) is a 1972 Swedish film directed and co-written by Jan Troell and starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Eddie Axberg, Allan Edwall, Monica Zetterlund, and Pierre Lindstedt. It and its 1971 predecessor, ''The Emi ...
'' (''Nybyggarna'') the following year. The films are based on
Vilhelm Moberg
Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg (20 August 1898 – 8 August 1973) was a Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his series ''The Emigrants''. The four ...
's epic novels about Swedish emigration to America in the 19th century, books extremely well known in Sweden. ''The Emigrants'' was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. Troell then went to Hollywood, where he directed ''
Zandy's Bride
''Zandy's Bride'' is a 1974 American Western film directed by Jan Troell and starring Gene Hackman and Liv Ullmann.
The film is also known as ''For Better, for Worse'' in the United States (TV title). It was filmed on location near Big Sur, ...
'', starring
Gene Hackman, and ''
Hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
''. He returned to Sweden to make ''
The Flight of the Eagle
''Flight of the Eagle'' ( sv, Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd) is a Swedish biographical drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 26 August 1982, directed by Jan Troell, based on Per Olof Sundman's 1967 novelization of the true story ...
'' (''Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd''), a film about the Swedish explorer
Andrée Andrée or Andree may refer to:
People
* Andrée (given name)
* Andree (surname)
Places
* Andree, Minnesota, unincorporated community in Stanchfield Township, Isanti County, Minnesota
* 1296 Andrée, asteroid
* Andrée Land (Svalbard)
* Andrée La ...
's disastrous 1897 polar expedition. The film was nominated for an Academy Awards for best foreign language film. Later works include the controversial ''
Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem'' (''Il Capitano''), ''
Hamsun'', about
Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, Point of view ...
, ''
As White as in Snow'' (''Så vit som en snö''), and several documentaries.
In the 1960s
Ingmar Bergman saw a comedic duo's
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...
on
Gröna Lund
Gröna Lund (; "Green Grove"), or colloquially ''Grönan'' (), is an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the seaward side of Djurgården Island, it is relatively small compared to other amusement parks, mainly because of its central ...
and told his studio "There are two funny guys down at Gröna Lund. Why don't you let them do a movie? There aren't too many funny movies these days." The duo was
Hans Alfredsson
Hans Folke "Hasse" Alfredson (28 June 1931 – 10 September 2017) was a Swedish actor, film director, writer, and comedian. He was born in Malmö, Sweden. He is known for his collaboration with Tage Danielsson as the duo Hasse & Tage and their ...
and
Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson (; 5 February 1928 – 13 October 1985) was a Swedish author, actor, comedian, poet and film director. He is best known for his collaboration with Hans Alfredson in the comedy duo Hasse & Tage.
Career
After graduation from ...
, known as
Hasse & Tage
Hasse & Tage ( sv, Hasse och Tage) were a popular Swedish comedy duo featuring Hans "Hasse" Alfredson and Tage Danielsson. They are sometimes known as ''Hasseåtage'', a spelling created by the Swedish press in the 1960s, but never used by the du ...
, who made a movie called ''Svenska bilder''. Their own production company
AB Svenska Ord made many more movies after that one, directed either by Hasse or Tage. They include, among others ''
Docking the Boat
''Docking the Boat'' ( sv, Att angöra en brygga, or sometimes: ''To Go Ashore'') is a Swedish dark comedy film from 1965 directed by Tage Danielsson. The film stars Gösta Ekman, Monica Zetterlund, Hans Alfredson, Lars Ekborg and Birgitta Ander ...
'' (''Att angöra en brygga''), ''
The Apple War
''The Apple War'' ( sv, Äppelkriget) is a 1971 Swedish comedy-drama film directed by Tage Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman, Hans Alfredsson, Tage Danielsson, Monica Zetterlund and Max von Sydow. The political theme of the film is the battle be ...
'' (''Äppelkriget''), ''
The Man Who Quit Smoking
''The Man Who Quit Smoking'' ( sv, Mannen som slutade röka) is a 1972 Swedish comedy film directed by Tage Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman, Grynet Molvig, Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt and Gunn Wållgren. The film is known as a Hasse & Tage film an ...
'' (''Mannen som slutade röka''), ''
Release the Prisoners to Spring
''Release the Prisoners to Spring'' ( sv, Släpp fångarne loss, det är vår!) is a 1975 Swedish comedy film directed by Tage Danielsson. At the 12th Guldbagge Awards the film won the awards for Best Film and Best Actress (Margaretha Krook).
The ...
'' (''Släpp fångarne loss – det är vår!''), ''Ägget är löst'', ''
The Adventures of Picasso
''The Adventures of Picasso'' ( sv, Picassos äventyr) is a 1978 Swedish surrealist comedy film directed by Tage Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman, as the famous painter. The film had the tag-line ''Tusen kärleksfulla lögner av Hans Alfredso ...
'' (''Picassos äventyr''), ''SOPOR'' and ''
The Simple-Minded Murder'' (''Den enfaldige mördaren''). These movies have cult status in conemporary Sweden.
1968 saw the release of
Stefan Jarl's and
Jan Lindqvist's documentary ''
They Call Us Misfits'' (''Dom kallar oss mods''). The first in what would become a trilogy, it is an uncompromising account of the life of two alienated teenagers. Stefan Jarl went on to make several other celebrated documentaries in the 1980s and 1990s.
Contemporary Swedish cinema
Roy Andersson had a breakthrough with his first feature-length film, ''
A Swedish Love Story
''A Swedish Love Story'' ( sv, En kärlekshistoria, lit. 'A Love Story') is a 1970 Swedish romantic drama directed by Roy Andersson, starring Ann-Sofie Kylin and Rolf Sohlman as two teenagers falling in love. Inspired by the Czechoslovak New ...
'' in 1969, and was awarded four prizes at the
International Film Festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
in Berlin the same year. Following the financial and critical disaster of his 1975 film ''
Giliap'' he took a two-decade break from film directing. In March 1996, Andersson began filming ''
Songs from the Second Floor'', that premiered at the
2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 53rd Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 25 May 2000. French film director, screenwriter, and producer Luc Besson was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film '' Dancer in the Dark'' by Lars von Trier.
The ...
, winning the Special Jury Prize. Andersson's return to filmmaking was a major success with the critics, earning him five
Guldbagge Awards
The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the nam ...
in Sweden for best film, direction, cinematography, screenplay and sound.
Director
Lasse Hallström made his feature-length film debut in 1975 with the comedy ''
A Guy and a Gal'' (''En kille och en tjej'') featuring the well-known Swedish comic duo
Magnus Härenstam
Johan Herbert Magnus Härenstam (19 June 1941 – 13 June 2015) was a Swedish television host, actor and comedian. Härenstam hosted the Swedish version of the game-show ''Jeopardy!'' for 14 years before being replaced by Adam Alsing. Hären ...
and
Brasse Brännström
Brasse Brännström (real name Lars Erik Brännström; 27 February 1945 – 29 August 2014) was a Swedish actor and comedian.
Brännström attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm. In 1970, he gained fame alongside Magnus Härenstam a ...
. He was the man behind most of
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...
's music videos, as well as the film ''
ABBA: The Movie''. ''
My Life as a Dog
''My Life as a Dog'' ( sv, Mitt liv som hund) is a Swedish drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 12 December 1985, directed by Lasse Hallström. It is based on the second novel of a semi-autobiographical trilogy by Reidar Jönsso ...
'', released in Sweden in 1985, was nominated for two
1987 Academy Awards, for
directing and for
adapted screenplay
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
. In 1987, it won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...
. Following the film's international success, Hallström has worked on
American films – ''
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
''What's Eating Gilbert Grape'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis and Darlene Cates. It follows 25-year-old Gilbert (Depp), a grocery store cler ...
'', ''
The Cider House Rules
''The Cider House Rules'' (1985) is a novel by American writer John Irving, a ''Bildungsroman'' that was later adapted into a 1999 film and a stage play by Peter Parnell. The story, set in the pre– and post–World War II era, tells of a youn ...
'', ''
Chocolat'' and ''
Casanova
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
'', among others.
In the comedy genre
Lasse Åberg
Lars Gunnar Åberg (born 5 May 1940), known professionally as Lasse Åberg, is a Swedish actor, musician, film director and artist. Between 1960 and 1964 he studied at the Konstfack department of graphic design.
Åberg has produced some of the m ...
has directed and also starred in some successful films that, although not praised by film critics, were box-office successes and have received cult status. The first one was ''
Repmånad
''Repmånad'' is a Swedish comedy film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 23 February 1979, directed by Lasse Åberg. The plot revolves around a group of men called in for refresher exercise (known as "repmånad" in Swedish, hence the tit ...
'' in 1979, followed by ''
Sällskapsresan
''Sällskapsresan eller Finns det svenskt kaffe på grisfesten?'' ( en, The Charter Trip, or: Is there Swedish Coffee at the Pig-Festival?) is a Swedish comedy film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 22 August 1980, and the first in a f ...
'' in 1980 and its four sequels. Although not part of the ''Sällskapsresan'' series, ''Repmånad'' was very similar in style, depicting an inept outsider in various situations and traditions typical for Sweden in a humorous way.
Lukas Moodysson
Karl Fredrik Lukas Moodysson (; born 17 January 1969) is a Swedish novelist, short story writer and film director. First coming to prominence as an ambitious poet in the 1980s, he had his big domestic and international breakthrough directing the ...
's first feature-length film, ''
Show Me Love'' (English language name for the controversial
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
original title, ''Fucking Åmål'') was a huge success in Sweden. The lovingly depicted teenage angst of the main characters played well with the audience and won four
Guldbagge Awards
The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the nam ...
in 1998. The follow-up ''
Together
''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi ...
'' (''Tillsammans'') (2000) was an upbeat comedy, albeit with some darkly satirical undertones, set in a 1970s
Stockholm commune. But Moodysson's filmmaking then took a radically different direction. The 2002 ''
Lilya 4-ever
''Lilya 4-ever'' ( sv, Lilja 4-ever) is a 2002 crime drama film written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, which was released in Sweden on 23 August 2002. It depicts the downward spiral of Lilja Michailova, played by Oksana Akinshina, a girl in ...
'' (''Lilja 4-ever'') is a dark, tragic story about trafficking in human beings, and the 2004 ''
A Hole in My Heart
''A Hole in My Heart'' ( sv, Ett hål i mitt hjärta) is a 2004 Swedish experimental drama film written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, starring Thorsten Flinck, Sanna Bråding, Björn Almroth and Goran Marjanovic. The story revolves around a ...
'' (''Ett hål i mitt hjärta'') deals with an
amateur porn movie recording, causing some controversy due to its shocking and disturbing footage.
Other young Swedish filmmakers that have seen major success in recent years include
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
-born director
Josef Fares
Josef Fares (born 19 September 1977) is a Swedish-Lebanese film director and video game designer of Assyrian descent. His brother is the actor Fares Fares, who has appeared in many of his films. He is the founder of Hazelight Studios.
Biograph ...
, with the comedies ''
Jalla! Jalla!'' (2000) and ''
Kopps'' (2003), and the
refugee drama ''
Zozo'' (2005),
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian-born
Reza Parsa with the drama ''
Before the Storm'' (''Före stormen'') (2000), and
Maria Blom
''Maria'' Margareta Blom, (born 28 February 1971) is a Swedish film director, dramatist and screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for the film ''Masjävlar'' from 2004. Blom has written and directed more than ten theater plays among them "Rabar ...
, with the comedy ''
Dalecarlians
Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales.
Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bordered by Norway ...
'' (''Masjävlar'') (2004).
During the late 1990s early 2000s several young filmmakers started exploring genre-films which had earlier been almost non-existent,
Mikael Håfström
Jan Mikael Håfström is a Swedish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 2003 film ''Evil'', and the movie adaptation of Stephen King's short story ''1408''.
Early life
Born in Lund, Sweden, Mikael Håfström studied film a ...
's slasher film ''
Strandvaskaren'',
Anders Banke
Anders Banke (born 2 August 1969) is a Swedish director. He was born and raised in Ystad and developed an early interest in film. He was trained as a director at VGIK in Moscow and learned to speak Russian. There he met his friend and future collab ...
's vampire comedy ''
Frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...
'' which was the first Swedish vampire film, Anders Jacobsson's satire ''
Evil Ed'' and Måns Mårlind's and Björn Stein's fantasy-thriller ''
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...
''. Non of these films proved to be successful in Sweden but went to receive both acclaim and audience in foreign countries. In 2001 the low-budget comedy-horror film ''Terror i Rock 'n' Roll Önsjön'' became Sweden's first zombie film.
More recently,
Tomas Alfredson
Hans Christian Tomas Alfredson (born 1 April 1965) is a Swedish film director who is best known internationally for directing the 2008 vampire film '' Let the Right One In'' and 2011 espionage film '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy''. Alfredson has ...
's (son of
Hans Alfredson
Hans Folke "Hasse" Alfredson (28 June 1931 – 10 September 2017) was a Swedish actor, film director, writer, and comedian. He was born in Malmö, Sweden. He is known for his collaboration with Tage Danielsson as the duo Hasse & Tage and their p ...
) romantic
vampire film
Vampire films have been a staple in world cinema since the era of silent films, so much so that the depiction of vampires in popular culture is strongly based upon their depiction in films throughout the years. The most popular cinematic adaptat ...
/drama film ''
Let the Right One In'' (''Låt den rätte komma in'') (2008) received widespread acclaim from critics all around the world, becoming one of the best reviewed films of the year.
In this particular tale, a bullied boy falls in love with a vampire girl who has just moved in next door. Also in the same year, director
Jan Troell
Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish writer-director, and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with ...
returns with yet another period drama, ''
Everlasting Moments'' (''Maria Larssons Eviga Ögonblick'') (2008).
In 2009, the feature films ''
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (original title in sv, Män som hatar kvinnor , lit=''Men Who Hate Women'') is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson (1954–2004). It was published posthumously in 2 ...
'' (''Män som hatar kvinnor''), ''
The Girl Who Played with Fire
''The Girl Who Played with Fire'' ( sv, Flickan som lekte med elden) is the second novel in the best-selling ''Millennium'' series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009. ...
'' (''Flickan som lekte med elden'') and ''
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest'' (''Luftslottet som sprängdes'') became international hits with the first film making more than $100 million worldwide. All three films were based on the hit novels of the same names that together comprise the "
Millennium series
''Millennium'' is a series of best-selling and award-winning Swedish crime novels, created by journalist Stieg Larsson. The two primary characters in the saga are Lisbeth Salander, an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mik ...
" by Swedish author/journalist
Stieg Larsson.
Another film maker to emerge from Sweden is
Ruben Östlund
Ruben Östlund (born 13 April 1974) is a Swedish filmmaker best known for his black comedic and satirical films ''Force Majeure'' (2014), '' The Square'' (2017) and '' Triangle of Sadness'' (2022), all of which received largely positive reviews an ...
, who along with
Julia Ducournau
Julia Ducournau (; born 18 November 1983) is a French film director and screenwriter. She made her feature film debut in 2016 with ''Raw (film), Raw''. At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, she won the Palme d'Or for her film ''Titane'', which made he ...
, is one of the most extraordinary contemporary film makers in the world and probably one of the best directors since
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...
. In 2017 Östlund won the
Palme D'or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
for ''
The Square'' and in 2022 he won it again for ''
Triangle of Sadness
''Triangle of Sadness'' (french: Sans filtre, lit=Without Filter) is a 2022 satirical black comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund in his English-language feature film debut. The film stars Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Dolly de ...
''.
The Swedish film industry
The
Swedish Film Institute was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. It supports Swedish filmmakings and allocates grants for production, distribution and public showing of Swedish films in Sweden. It also promotes Swedish cinema internationally. Furthermore, the Institute organizes the annual
Guldbagge Awards
The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the nam ...
.
Through the
Swedish Film Agreement, between the Swedish state and the film and media industry, the
Government of Sweden, the TV companies which are party to the agreement, and Sweden's cinema owners jointly fund the Film Institute and thus, indirectly, Swedish filmmaking. The agreement usually runs for five years, and due for renewal from 1 January of the next year after expiration.
At a rate of about 20 films a year the Swedish film industry is on par with other comparable North European countries.
In
Trollhättan Municipality
Trollhättan Municipality (''Trollhättans kommun'' or ''Trollhättans stad'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Trollhättan.
The municipality was created gradually in 1967, 1971 ...
there is a film production facility known as
Trollywood; movies shot there include ''Show Me Love'', ''
Dancer in the Dark
''Dancer in the Dark'' is a 2000 musical drama film written and directed by Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. It stars Icelandic musician Björk as a factory worker who suffers from a degenerative eye condition and is saving for an operation to p ...
'' and ''
Dogville
''Dogville'' is a 2003 avant-garde drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring an ensemble cast led by Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Paul Bettany, Chloë Sevigny, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, Ben Gazzara, Harriet Anderss ...
''. The movie studio
Film i Väst
Film i Väst (English: "Film in West") is a film company located in Trollhättan, Sweden, nicknamed "Trollywood"), founded in 1992 by the Älvsborg County Council. Lars von Trier used its facilities in his movies, such as ''Dogville'' and ''Mand ...
centered here produces about half of Sweden's full-length films.
See also
*
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
*
List of cinema of the world
This is a list of cinema of the world by continent and country.
By continent
*Cinema of Africa
*Cinema of Asia
** South Asian cinema
**Southeast Asian cinema
* Cinema of North America
* Cinema of Latin America
* Cinema of Europe
* Cinema of Ocean ...
*
List of Swedish film directors
This is a list of Swedish film directors. It includes some foreign-born film directors who have worked in Sweden.
A
*Lasse Åberg
*Mac Ahlberg
*Per Åhlin
* Marianne Ahrne
* Jonas Åkerlund
*Daniel Alfredson
*Hans Alfredson
*Tomas Alfredson
...
*
Lists of Swedish films
*
Swedish Film Institute
*
World cinema
World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Watch — Sweden's official film player– Swedish film streamed online
Film: Swedish film in focus– Fact sheet o
Sweden.se Sweden's official website, published by the
Swedish InstituteSweden.se film room– Films and features about Swedish film o
Sweden.se Sweden's official website
Scandinavian cinema: Bergman, Dreyer and beyond– Focus Feature on the Criterion Collection web.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinema of Sweden
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