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Monthly Screenings

Ingmar Bergman: A Retrospective

The year 2018 marks 100 years since the birth of Ingmar Bergman: world-famous filmmaker, legendary theatre director and exceptional writer. The retrospective marks this occasion and will held in three parts. Part 1, which will be shown during February and March, is dedicated to Bergman’s early works; Part 2 (June-August) is dedicated to films from the 1950s-1960s, Part 3 (October-December) will showcase Bergman's late works.

Opening remarks: Jannike Åhlund, Swedish Film Institute, President of the Bergman Center Foundation

High Tension

Dir.: Ingmar Berman
| 84 minutes

In 1950, the Swedish film industry was in crisis and sought to produce a spy thriller. The young Ingmar Bergman was chosen to direct the project, but he felt the film was not what he expected - his plot dealt with Soviet infiltration attempts against dissidents who had fled to Sweden. Since then the film has not been allowed for screenings, until today.

The Magic Flute

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 160 minutes

Bergman’s cinematic interpretation of Mozart’s last operatic masterpiece. The opera is performed by the choir and the orchestra of the Swedish Radio, under the direction of Eric Ericson.

The Serpent’s Egg

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 119 minutes

The film takes place in Berlin in the 1920s. Its characters are a circus performer and his brother’s ex-wife, who earns her living by working in a cabaret. Bergman creates a series of uninhabited scenes that are supposed to express the hollowness that gave rise to Nazism. 

Cries and Whispers

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 91 minutes

Agnes, riddled with cancer, is dying in the family mansion. Her two sisters return home to give her comfort. “Only the most extravagant superlatives could hope to convey the visual, aural and acting artistry of this film…” (Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide). 

Saraband

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 120 minutes

Ingmar Bergman’s last film is a family drama about an elderly lady who decides, after 30 years, to visit her ex-husband. She arrives in the middle of a feud between her ex’s and his son from another marriage. A semi-autobiography. 

Autumn Sonata

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 92 minutes

A famed concert pianist locks horns with her daughter whom she hasn’t seen for seven years. Much of Bergman’s career was devoted to creating chamber dramas and sharp distinctions, here when he directs Ingrid Bergman in the role of mother, the drama is loaded with emotion.

Farodocument

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 103 minutes

Life on the island of Faro, located in the Baltic sea and home for Bergman since he went there to shoot Through A Glass Darkly. The film follows youngsters who wished to leave the island ten years before, and their feelings towards the place today.

From the Life of the Marionettes

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 104 minutes

A married man in a state of depression and sexual frustration finds himself involved in the rape and murder of a prostitute. The cinematography, the excellent cast, and the free movement on the timeline, help let the subconscious of Bergman’s previous films break through. 

Fanny and Alexander

Dir.: Ingmar Berman
| 189 minutes

Bergman’s most optimistic film follows the experiences of the affluent and loving Ekdahl family. After the actor-father of 10-year-old Alexander and 8-year-old Fanny dies, the mother marries a puritanical and sadistic minister, but harmony is ultimately restored. 

Document: Fanny and Alexander

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 100 minutes

The film behind Fanny and Alexander, including clips from the longer television version of the film. The film is a true treat for all Bergman fans, as it gives insight into the original, humane, and at times amusing ways in which the master worked. 

Persona

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 84 minutes

An actress who withdraws and becomes mute is cared for by a nurse. Persona is considered Bergman’s best film: a work that  examines the enchanting powers of art and imagination.

Hour of the Wolf

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 89 minutes

Max Von Sydow is a painter in the process of losing his grip on reality while staying on a deserted beach with his wife (Liv Ullmann). Visually this film is one of the most impressive of Bergman’s work.

Shame

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 103 minutes

A married pair of concert violinists is morally challenged by a civil war that rages across their isolated island. Bergman presents a powerful, brilliantly acted drama, written by himself. 

The Touch

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 113 minutes

Bergman`s first English-language film tells the story of a woman leaving her doctor-husband in order to live with a whole different man. As usual, superb acting by the whole cast. 

En passion

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 101 minutes

A beautifully acted drama about a writer living alone on a barely populated island, and his relationship with a guilt-struck widow, an architect and his wife. The cinematography by Sven Nykvist is outstanding and breathtaking. 

The Virgin Spring

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 87 minutes

An innocent young girl knows no evil. The heroine meets with three equally innocent shepherds. She is raped and killed. Her father sentences the three to death and when he looks for his daughter’s body he finds only a spring where the crime took place. 

The Face

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 100 minutes

Albert Emanuel is a traveling magician who goes up and down Sweden with a show which includes his wife disguised as a man. Upon his arrival in Stockholm, he is arrested by a local consul. The struggle between the two men unfolds in wonderfully theatrical style.

The Seventh Seal

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 90 minutes

Inspired by ever-present death, a knight returning from the crusades finds nothing but gloom and hopelessness until he comes across a band of traveling players living simple lives. The Seventh Seal is a defining film in Bergman’s career – an existential work that brings Bergman’s style to perfection. 

The Devil’s Eye

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 87 minutes

The Devil sends Don Juan from the depths of purgatory to seduce an innocent woman, but instead Don Juan falls in love with her. Bergman continued to engage here with the subjects that have always enchanted him: life, death, and sexual and romantic attraction. 

Through a Glass Darkly

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 91 minutes

On a remote island live a coldly detached novelist, his son repulsed by women, his daughter lapsing into insanity, and her anguished husband. Sven Nykvist’s camera is a character within itself that together with mise-en-scene and the light work exposes the characters emotional worlds.

All These Women

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 80 minutes

A music critic attempts to write a biography of a great cellist`s life. The master cellist is surrounded by a brood of women, including his wife and mistresses, each of whom the critic covets. Bergman’s first film in color is an amusing farce and stylized farce. 

Winter Light

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 80 minutes

Set against the backdrop of a small rural community he serves, a strict pastor begins to doubt his faith. The central drama in Bergman’s despairing trilogy is probably his most austere and solemn film on the silence of God. 

The Silence

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 95 minutes

Two sisters and the child of one have to make a stop during their travels through Europe. The child’s mother finds sexual adventure while the other steps closer and closer to mental and physical breakdown. A mysterious, emotionally charged, and scandalous work. 

The Brink of Life

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 84 minutes

Three women in a maternity ward: one miscarries and feels it’s a punishment for the dissolution of her marriage; the second is happily married and desperately wants a child but loses it; the youngest is unmarried who wishes to have an abortion. 

Wild Strawberries

Dir.: Ingmar Bergman
| 88 minutes

An aging professor travels to receive an honorary degree for his life’s work. The journey presents encounters with family members, hitchhikers, and disturbing dreams.