Swedish directors
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Alf Sjöberg was born on 21 June 1903 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for Miss Julie (1951), Ön (1966) and Torment (1944). He died on 16 April 1980 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (1996) is the trilogy closed. Here, as in 'Den Goda Viljan' Pernilla August play his mother. Note that all three movies are not always full true biographical stories. He began his career early with a puppet theatre which he, his sister and their friends played with. But he was the manager. Strictly professional he begun writing in 1941. He had written a play called 'Kaspers död' (A.K.A. 'Kaspers Death') which was produced the same year. It became his entrance into the movie business as Stina Bergman (not a close relative), from the company S.F. (Swedish Filmindustry), had seen the play and thought that there must be some dramatic talent in young Ingmar. His first job was to save other more famous writers' poor scripts. Under one of that script-saving works he remembered that he had written a novel about his last year as a student. He took the novel, did the save-poor-script job first, then wrote a screenplay on his own novel. When he went back to S.F., he delivered two scripts rather than one. The script was Torment (1944) and was the fist Bergman screenplay that was put into film (by Alf Sjöberg). It was also in that movie Bergman did his first professional film-director job. Because Alf Sjöberg was busy, Bergman got the order to shoot the last sequence of the film. Ingmar Bergman is the father of Daniel Bergman, director, and Mats Bergman, actor at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theater. Ingmar Bergman was also C.E.O. of the same theatre between 1963-1966, where he hired almost every professional actor in Sweden. In 1976 he had a famous tax problem. Bergman had trusted other people to advise him on his finances, but it turned out to be very bad advice. Bergman had to leave the country immediately, and so he went to Germany. A few years later he returned to Sweden and made his last theatrical film Fanny and Alexander (1982). In later life he retired from movie directing, but still wrote scripts for film and T.V. and directed plays at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre for many years. He died peacefully in his sleep on July 30, 2007.- Director
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- Editor
Bo Widerberg was born on 8 June 1930 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for Adalen 31 (1969), All Things Fair (1995) and Joe Hill (1971). He was married to Vanja Nettelbladt and Ann-Mari Björklund. He died on 1 May 1997 in Ängelholm, Skåne län, Sweden.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Jan Troell was born on 23 July 1931 in Limhamn, Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Here Is Your Life (1966), The Emigrants (1971) and Il capitano (1991). He is married to Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell. They have one child.- Director
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- Writer
Victor Sjöström was born on September 20, 1879, and is the undisputed father of Swedish film, ranking as one of the masters of world cinema. His influence lives on in the work of Ingmar Bergman and all those directors, both Swedish and international, influenced by his work and the works of directors whom he himself influenced.
As a boy Sjöström was close to his mother, who died during childbirth when he was seven years old. Biographers see this truncated relationship as being essential to the evolution of his dramatic trope of strong-willed, independent women in his films. He was masterful at eliciting sensitive performances from actresses, such as that of Lillian Gish in his American classic The Wind (1928).
The teenaged Sjöström loved the theater, but after his education he turned to business, becoming a donut salesman. Fortunately for the future of Swedish cinema, he was a flop as a salesman, and turned to the theater, becoming an actor and then director. The Swedish film company Svenska Bio hired him and fellow stage director Mauritz Stiller to helm pictures, and from 1912-15 he directed 31 films. Only three of them survive (it is estimated that approximately 150,000 films, or 80% of the total silent-era production, has been lost). He directed Ingeborg Holm (1913), considered the first classic of Swedish cinema.
Despite the exigencies of working in an industrial art form, most Svenska Bio films of this period are embarrassments in an artistic sense--turgid melodramas, absurd romances and shaggy dog-style comedies--and there is no reason to think that the director didn't helm his share of such fare. Even taking that into account, Sjöström managed to develop a personal style. The reason he became internationally famous (and wooed by Hollywood) was the richness of his films, which were full of psychological subtleties and natural symbolism that was integrated into the works as a whole. He dealt with such major themes as guilt, redemption and the rapidly evolving place of women in society.
His 1920 film The Phantom Carriage (1921) (a.k.a. "Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness") was an internationally acclaimed masterpiece, and Goldwyn Pictures hired him to direct Name the Man! (1924) (Goldwayn was folded into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924, where he worked until shortly after the advent of sound). Sjöström's name was changed to "Victor Seastrom" (a phonetic pronunciation in a country with limited word fonts), and he became a major American director, a pro-to David Lean, who was renowned for balancing artistic expression with a concern for what would play at the box office. His first MGM film was the Lon Chaney melodrama He Who Gets Slapped (1924). It was not only a critical success but a huge hit, getting the new studio off onto a sound footing.
He was highly respected by MGM chief Louis B. Mayer and by production head Irving Thalberg, who shared Sjöström's concerns with art that did not exclude profit. Sjöström became one of the most highly paid directors in Hollywood, reaching his peak at the end of the silent era (when the silent film reached its maturation as an art form) with two collaborations with Lillian Gish: The Scarlet Letter (1926) and "The Wind" (1926), his last masterpiece.
He departed Hollywood for Sweden after A Lady to Love (1930), returning one last time to helm Under the Red Robe (1937) for 20th Century-Fox, and although he made two movies in Sweden in the intervening years, his career as a director basically ended with the sound era. He returned to his first avocation, acting in Swedish films, in the 1930s, '40s and '50s. In his later years he was a mentor to Ingmar Bergman and gave a remarkable performance in Bergman's masterpiece "Wild Strawberries" (1957), for which he won the National Board of Review's Best Actor Award. In his professional life he was a workaholic, and in his private life was reticent about his films and his fame and remained intensely devoted to his wife Edith Erastoff and his family.
Victor Sjöström died on January 3, 1960, at the age of 80.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Being the son of actor / theatre director Gösta Ekman, it was natural for him to start a career in the movie business. He was first noticed for playing against his father in Intermezzo (1936). He also showed a talent for writing, and his first script was filmed as Blixt och dunder (1938). Producer Lorens Marmstedt gave him the chance to make a successful directing debut with Med dej i mina armar (1940) at the age of 24. During the following years he could mix light comedies with drama. His Kungliga patrasket (1945) was a semi-biographical rendition of the life of an acting family. During the 1940s he kept up a high tempo making movies, with at least two movies every year. When Ingmar Bergman made his debut in the late 1940s, the critics began to compare the two young directors, a comparison who eventually became less and less favorable for Ekman. In 1950 he made the movie that he considered his best, Girl with Hyacinths (1950). From the middle of the 1950s, his directing and writing became more and more of a routine, more and more predictable, concentrating on light comedies with Sickan Carlsson. After his last movie in 1964 he went over to make revues with Karl Gerhard and Povel Ramel.- Writer
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- Director
Tage Danielsson was born in 1928, in a working class home in Linköping, Sweden. He went to Uppsala University, and graduated as a Master of Arts in English, French and the history of literature. In 1956 he met Hans Alfredson at the Swedish Radio company. They worked together for almost thirty years and made variety shows, films and TV-productions that were loved by the Swedish people. They were comedians, yet everything they made had a serious message. On stage Tage Danielsson was the tall, red-headed man, genuinely kind and folksy but with a sharp intellect and a malicious tongue. Uno Myggan Ericson said of him that he was "a nice viper".- Actor
- Writer
- Director
During 1956-60 Hans Alfredson worked at Sveriges Radio together with Tage Danielsson. They wrote, directed and starred in several revues 1962-1982. As a director and scriptwriter for the screen Alfredson tried many different genres. He had his greatest critical successes with Ägget är löst! En hårdkokt saga (1975) and The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982), which got the Silver Bear and Best Actor award for Stellan Skarsgård at the Berlin Film Festival and the film also was awarded with two Guldbaggar. Some of his best acting performances he did in Jonas Cornell's Grisjakten (1970), Anders Lönnbro's Sista budet (1981) and his own The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982). Alfredson has also written many books, some for children such as "Blommmig falukorv och andra bitar" (1965) and "Varför är det så ont om Q?" (1968). At first Alfredson only was known as a great comedian but later the dark sides has been more prominent, for example in the books "En ond man" (1980) (for which he adapted the screenplay for The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982) from.) and "Tiden är ingenting (1981).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Mai Zetterling was born in Sweden in 1925, and lived briefly in Australia while still a child. She's known as a director and actor and trained on the Stockholm repertory stage, she began appearing in war-era films starting in her teens. Following her debut in Lasse Maja (1941), she made quite an impact in the terminally dark Ingmar Bergman-written film Torment (1944) [known as Torment in the US and Frenzy in the UK], who went on to direct her in his Music in Darkness (1948) [Music in Darkness].
The international attention she received from her Bergman association led her to England where she debuted in the title role of Frieda (1947), a war drama co-starring David Farrar, Glynis Johns and Flora Robson. Developing modest sex symbol success, she went on to co-star opposite a number of handsome leading men throughout the post-war years in primarily dramatic works, including Dennis Price in The Bad Lord Byron (1949), Dirk Bogarde in Blackmailed (1951), Herbert Lom in The Ringer (1952), Richard Widmark in A Prize of Gold (1955), Tyrone Power in Seven Days from Now (1957) (which was a variation on Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944)), John Gregson in Faces in the Dark (1960), William Sylvester in The Devil Inside (1961), and Stanley Baker in The Man Who Finally Died (1963). Along the way she proved just as adaptable and sexy in smart comedy when she came between husband and wife Peter Sellers and Virginia Maskell in Only Two Can Play (1962).
Mai abandoned acting in the mid-1960s and courted some controversy when she successfully began sitting in the director's chair. Divorced from Norwegian actor Tutte Lemkow in the early 1950s, she later wed writer David Hughes in 1958, who collaborated with her on a number of her directing ventures, which seemed ahead of their time. Obviously influenced by Bergman, the dark, sexy drama Loving Couples (1964) [Loving Couples] dealt with homosexual themes and featured nudity; Night Games (1966) [Night Games] revolved around sexual decadency and repression; and The Girls (1968) [The Girls], which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, expounded on women's liberation. She divorced her second husband in 1979. She had two children, Louis and Etienne, from her first marriage.
Toward the end of her life, Mai made a return to film acting and is best remembered at this late stage for her nurturing and resilient grandmother in the film The Witches (1990) wherein she is forced to tangle with a particularly virulent ringleader Anjelica Huston to save her grandson from her coven of hags. Mai died of cancer in 1994.- Writer
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Ulf Malmros was born on 16 March 1965 in Molkom, Värmlands län, Sweden. He is a writer and director, known for A Summer Tale (2000), Tjenare kungen (2005) and Bröllopsfotografen (2009).- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Ruben Östlund was born on 13 April 1974 in Styrsö, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. He is a director and writer, known for Triangle of Sadness (2022), Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017). He was previously married to Andrea Östlund.- Director
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Lukas Moodysson was born on 17 January 1969 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He is a director and writer, known for Show Me Love (1998), Lilya 4-Ever (2002) and Together (2000). He has been married to Coco Moodysson since 1994. They have three children.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Vilgot Sjöman was born on 2 December 1924 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was a writer and director, known for The Garage (1975), A Handful of Love (1974) and My Sister, My Love (1966). He was married to Lotta Sjöman and Kristina Hasselgren. He died on 9 April 2006 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Olle Hellbom was born on 8 October 1925 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a director and producer, known for The Brothers Lionheart (1977), Tjorven, Batsman, and Moses (1964) and Raggare! (1959). He died on 5 June 1982 in Stockholm, Sweden.- Director
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Jesper Ganslandt was born on 31 October 1978 in Falkenberg, Halland, Sweden. He is a director and writer, known for Falkenberg Farewell (2006), The Ape (2009) and Snabba Cash (2021).- Writer
- Director
- Actress
Anna Odell was born on 3 October 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a writer and director, known for The Reunion (2013), X&Y (2018) and Okänd, kvinna 2009-349701 (2009).- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Hannes Holm was born on 26 November 1962 in Lidingö, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is a director and writer, known for A Man Called Ove (2015), Adam & Eva (1997) and Klassfesten (2002).- Art Department
- Director
- Animation Department
Per Åhlin was born on 7 August 1931 in Hofors, Gävleborgs län, Sweden. He was a director, known for Dunderklumpen! (1974), The Journey to Melonia (1989) and Alfons Åberg (1979). He died on 1 May 2023 in Malmö, Sweden.- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mikael Håfström was born on 1 July 1960 in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden. He is a writer and director, known for Evil (2003), 1408 (2007) and The Rite (2011).- Director
- Writer
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Lasse Hallström inherited his enthusiasm for film from his father, who was an amateur filmmaker. In high school he made his first short film, which was released on Swedish television. Hallström then began working as a director, cameraman and editor for Swedish television. He also made music videos and worked with the cult band "ABBA", for whom he directed the 1977 film "ABBA: The Movie". He moved from television to film and directed Swedish productions such as "A Lover And His Lass" (1974), "Der Gockel" and "Happy We". By the mid-1980s he had long since established himself in his homeland and made his international breakthrough as an author and director in 1985 with "My Life as a Dog" (1985). In his warm-hearted film, Hallström tells the story of a twelve-year-old boy in the 1950s. Audiences and critics worldwide were thrilled and Hallström received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay.
The members of the "New York Film Critics Circle" named the production "Best Foreign Film." Hallström then brought the successful Astrid Lindgren stories "We Children from Bullerbü" (1986) and "News from Us Children from Bullerbü" (1986) to the screen. In 1991 he worked with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss on his first American film, "A Charming Disgust." This was followed in 1993 by the hit film "Gilbert Grape - Somewhere in Iowa", for which Hallström was director and producer. The film starred Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and the young Leonardo DiCaprio, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a disabled boy. Hallström himself was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for Gilbert Grape: Somewhere in Iowa. In 1994 he married the actress Lena Olin; together they became parents of two children.
After the failure of "The Power of Love" (1995) with Julia Roberts, Lasse Hallström returned to his strengths and delivered the drama "God's Work and the Devil's Contribution" in 1999. The critics were once again full of praise and Hallström was pleased to receive another Oscar nomination. The subtle comedy "Chocolat" (2000) with Juliette Binoche, Judy Dench and Johnny Depp was his next work, which was nominated for five "Oscars" in 2001. In 2002, Hallström's tragicomedy "Ship Reports" was released in German cinemas. With "An Untamed Life" from 2005, he brought a drama to cinemas that not only shined with its plot, but also with excellent actors such as Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez. Hallström settled privately in the USA and Sweden. In 2018 he directed the American fantasy film "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms".- Director
- Additional Crew
- Music Department
Tomas Alfredson was born on 1 April 1965 in Lidingö, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is a director, known for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Let the Right One In (2008) and The Snowman (2017). He is married to Charlotte Alfredson. They have one child. He was previously married to Cissi Elwin.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Moshe "Mauritz" Stiller, born July 17, 1883, in Helsinki, Finland, was a director, writer and actor. He began his artistic activity in the theatre, as an actor at 16. Mauritz Stiller portrayed 87 roles from 1899-1916 and directed 16 productions 1911-28. Together with Viktor Sjöström ( director, actor, writer) he was recruited in 1912 as director/actor to the Swedish film industry by Charles Magnusson at AB Svenska Biografteatern. Mauritz Stiller's films was instantly successful. During his first year he directed six feature films. "Herr Arnes pengar" (1919), "Erotikon" (1920) and "Gösta Berlings saga" (1923) are three cornerstones of Swedish film production. In "Gösta Berlings saga" Greta Garbo, 18 years old, made her first major role. Greta Garbo and Mauritz Stiller came to be best friends and allies forever. Stiller introduced Garbo to the German audience in 1925, before the two sailed of to the USA to make "The Temptress" for Paramount/Irving Thalberg in 1926. Mauritz Stiller directed 51 feature films and appeared as an actor in seven productions from 1912-1927. At 1:05 am Nov 8, 1928, Mauritz Stiller died in Stockholm, after undergoing numerous surgeries, an abscess of a lung ended a great artist's life.- Director
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arne Mattsson was born on 2 December 1919 in Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for One Summer of Happiness (1951), För min heta ungdoms skull (1952) and Hemsöborna (1955). He was married to Elsa Prawitz. He died on 28 June 1995 in Sweden.- Director
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- Producer
Stefan Jarl was born on 18 March 1941 in Skara, Västergötland, Sweden. He is a director and writer, known for Decency (2013), Time Has No Name (1989) and A Respectable Life (1979). He has been married to Anette Lykke Lundberg since 4 May 1983. They have two children.- Director
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- Actor
He attended the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school 1907-1909 and went on to become an actor at the same theatre 1913-1926. His first work for the movies was the script to Wanted - A Film Actress (1917) and the follow-up Thomas Graals bästa barn (1918). He made his directing debut with Bodakungen (1920). During the 1920s he made his first movies based on the Selma Lagerlöf novels. During the following years, his movies became very distinguished and recognizable: often sophisticated comedies in an upper-class environment with a touch of money and aristocracy: Swedenhielms (1935), 0028151 or Sara Learns Manners (1937). During the WWII he is involved in movies about the political situation at the time: Rid i natt! (1942) or 0035801. During these years, he also made his masterpiece, Ordet (1943). He was more or less forced to leave the production company Svensk Filmindustri (SF), whom he had been faithful during his career, in the late 1950s, when they wanted to get rid of everything old and tried.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Lasse Åberg was born on 5 May 1940 in Hofors, Gävleborgs län, Sweden. He is an actor and writer, known for Den ofrivillige golfaren (1991), Sällskapsresan eller Finns det svenskt kaffe på grisfesten (1980) and The Health Journey (1999). He has been married to Inger since 1965. They have two children.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Colin Nutley was born on 28 February 1944 in Gosport, Hampshire, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for House of Angels (1992), Under the Sun (1998) and The Bomber (2001). He has been married to Helena Bergström since 1990. They have two children.Technically British, but does Swedish movies.- Director
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- Producer
Kjell Sundvall was born on 31 March 1953 in Älvsbyn, Norrbottens län, Sweden. He is a director and writer, known for The Hunters (1996), The Last Contract (1998) and Grabben i graven bredvid (2002). He was previously married to Ann Sundvall.- Director
- Writer
- Composer
Hobert was born in Kalmar, Sweden Dec 1, 1951. He studied political science, languages and film and theatre at the Lund University from 1970 to 1973. He debuted as a radio playwright in 1974. Hobert worked as a writer and assistant director up to his debut as a director in 1978. During the eighties, he wrote and directed several TV-films, among them the internationally awarded The Twelve Months of Summer, Age Unknown and The Fifteenth Chieftain. His debut on the big screen in 1993, Spring of Joy, was the first film in a cycle of seven, called "The Seven Deadly Sins". The stories were focused on the same Swedish family, ranging from comedy to drama and a thriller. He wrote, directed and co-produced the project during the nineties. "Spring of Joy" was awarded "The Ingmar Bergman-Prize", Bergman" with Bergman's personal motivation: "A Masterpiece". "Spring of Joy" as well as the other films in the Cycle:"The Hands", "Autumn in Paradise", "Run for your life", "The Eye", "Where the Rainbow ends" and "The Birthday" received Scandinavian and international awards. In 2002, Everyone loves Alice was a major critics' and box office success. The film won the "Best European Film" award at The Hollywood Film Festival. "This powerful film is reminiscent in intensity and intimacy of Ingmar Bergman's gripping 1973 film Scenes From A Marriage" (Hollywood Reporter). His next film, Three Suns, a medieval love story, was considered a disappointment and was widely criticized. A year later, 2005, Hobert returned to the big screens with Harry's Daughters, starring Lena Endre and Amanda Ooms. The film, about the violent conflict between two sisters after the loss of a child, was generally received as a powerful comeback and praised as one of his best films ever. In the following years, Hobert wrote several theatre plays. He also directed one of them, Security, (USA: "Manhattan Security") at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. In 2011 he once again returned to the cinema. He wrote and directed A One-Way to Antibes .The tragicomic drama, about a half-blind widower who learns that his children have conceived an elaborate plan to get their hands on his assets before he dies-and then does a counterattack-was a success. The actor Sven-Bertil Taube received a National Award for "Best Leading Male Actor" in January 2012. The film also launched a real shooting star in the female support role, Rebecca Ferguson( Mission Impossible). She was discovered by Hobert at a local flea market and the role opened up for an immediate international career. Hobert's first novel "The Birdcatcher's Son" was published in October 2018. It is a love drama based on a true story. The film, shot at the Faroe Islands, written and directed by Hobert, will open theatrically in Sweden April 5, 2019.- Director
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- Actor
Josef Fares, born September 19, 1977 in Beirut, Lebanon, is a director, writer and actor. His family moved to Sweden in 1987 and settled in Örebro. Josef Fares was a very productive filmmaker in his teens. He diligently sent his works to all the world's festivals for short films. Encouraged by the essence of Bruce Lee, inspired by directors like John Woo, Sergio Leone and Luc Besson. In 1998 he was admitted to the three-year film directing training at the Dramatic Institute in Stockholm. Still in school, Josef Fares made his feature film debut with "Jalla! Jalla!" (2000). The film became an enormous commercial and artistic success. "Jalla! Jalla!" portrayed complex multi-ethnic love problems. Two years later he was ready for his second feature film project. "Kopps" was equally successful and established Josef Fares as one of the distinguished directors of Swedish film. His elder brother Fares Fares and his father Jan Fares has starred in his films. He has been nominated and awarded a number of honorable prices, like the Nordic Council Film Prize 2006. Josef Fares has up till now directed five feature films and a large number of shorts. Currently he is working on the development and direction of video games.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Jorge Daniel Espinosa is a Swedish-Chilean film director, screenwriter and film producer from Trångsund, Stockholm. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2001. He notably directed the Sony's Marvel Universe film Morbius starring Jared Leto and other films including Life, Easy Money, The Boxer, Babylon Disease, Outside Love and Child 44.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Missing, presumed dead, near Tanumshede on the Swedish west coast. While doing research for an upcoming movie and taking photos, Daniel Lind Lagerlöf disappeared from two other members of the crew, and has not been seen since 6 October 2011.
The search for Lind Lagerlöf was cancelled after more than two days extensive search with police, sea rescue service and military in the rather limited area where he disappeared. It is believed that he has fallen into the sea and perished.- Director
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- Producer
Roy Arne Lennart Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for his distinctive style of absurdist humor and melancholic depictions of human life. His personal style is characterized by long takes, and stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and grotesque. Over his career Andersson earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.
Andersson spent much of his professional life working on advertisement spots, directing over 400 commercials and two short films; directing six feature-length films in six decades. He made his feature film debut with A Swedish Love Story (1970) followed by Giliap (1975). Anderson received the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize for Songs from the Second Floor (2000). His film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) won the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion. He other notable films include You, the Living (2007), and About Endlessness (2019).- Director
- Writer
Kjell Grede was born on 12 August 1936 in Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for Hip hip hurra! (1987), God afton, herr Wallenberg (1990) and Hugo and Josephine (1967). He was married to Anita Grede and Bibi Andersson. He died on 15 December 2017 in Sweden.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked on the simplest and most natural look imaginable. Indeed, Mr. Nykvist prided himself on the simplicity and naturalness of his lighting schemes. Nykvist used light to create mood and, more significantly, to bring out the natural flesh tones in the human face so that the emotion of the scene could be played out on the face without the light becoming intrusive.
Nykvist entered the Swedish film industry when he was 19 and worked his way up to becoming a director of photography. He first worked with the legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman on the film Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), but his collaboration with Bergman began in earnest with The Virgin Spring (1960). From that point on, Nykvist replaced the great Gunnar Fischer as Bergman's cameraman, and the two men started a collaboration that would last for a quarter of a century. The switch from Fischer to Nykvist created a marked difference in the look of Bergman's films. In many respects, it was like the difference between Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Fischer's lighting was a study in light and darkness, while Nykvist preferred a more naturalistic, more subtle approach that in many ways relied on the northern light compositions of the many great Scandinavian painters.
Nykvist's work with Bergman is one of the most glorious collaborations in movie history. Nykvist created a markedly different look for each installment of Bergman's Faith Trilogy. Through a Glass Darkly (1961) had an almost suffocating quality to it, and The Silence (1963) hearkened back to the days of German Expressionism. Winter Light (1963), the middle part of the trilogy, may very well be the most perfect work of Nykvist's repertoire. Having studied the light in a real provincial church carefully, he then recreated the subtle changes in the light as the day went on on a Stockholm sound stage. Indeed, it's hard to believe that the film was shot on a stage and not in a real church in Northern Sweden. For Persona (1966), Nykvist relied heavily on Sweden's famous Midnight Sun. In The Passion of Anna (1969), Nykvist was able to capture the chilly, soggy, and melancholy look of Faro, one of Nykvist's first color films. Both Nykvist and Bergman were both very reluctant to film in color. He created a fascinating study of white and red in Cries & Whispers (1972), for which Nykvist won an Oscar. He won an Oscar again for the last feature-length theatrical film that Bergman made, Fanny and Alexander (1982).
During the late 1970s, Nykvist began making films elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, working for directors such as Louis Malle (Pretty Baby (1978)), Philip Kaufman (The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)), Bob Fosse (Star 80 (1983)), Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle (1993)), Woody Allen (Another Woman (1988), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)), Richard Attenborough (Chaplin (1992)), and fellow Swede Lasse Hallström (What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)). The documentary Ljuset håller mig sällskap (2000) paid homage to Nykvist, although it does not grant us any real secrets about his working methods. Nykvist died in 2006.- Writer
- Director
Kay Pollak was born on 21 May 1938 in Gamlestaden, Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. He is a writer and director, known for As It Is in Heaven (2004), Children's Island (1980) and Älska mej (1986). He has been married to Carin Pollak since 1986. They have three children.- Director
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Björn Lennart Runge, born June 21 1961, in Lysekil, Sweden. He is a director, screen writer, playwright and author. Björn Runge has been involved in the film industry since he was 20 years old. He studied film directing at Dramatiska Institutet, Stockholm, 1986-89. In 1996 he made his debut in feature films with the celebrated drama "Harry & Sonja". He received two Guldbagge awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay 2003, for the feature film "Om jag vänder mig om". At the Berlin Film Festival the same film was awarded the Silver Bear and Der Blaue Engel Prize, for best European film. In 2005 Björn Runge received Nordiska Rådets Filmpris for "Mun mot mun" (2004). Björn Runge has up till now directed 14 feature films, shorts and television productions.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Gustaf Edgren was born on 1 April 1895 in Östra Fågelvik, Värmlands län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for Styrman Karlssons flammor (1925), Skeppargatan 40 (1925) and Närkingarna (1923). He was married to Linnea Spångberg and Svea Hellberg. He died on 10 June 1954 in Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Ragnar Frisk was born on 15 December 1902 in Hudiksvall, Gävleborgs län, Sweden. He was a director and actor, known for Hammarforsens brus (1948), Åsa-Nisse i kronans kläder (1958) and Sten Stensson kommer till stan (1945). He died on 11 December 1984 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Director
- Writer
- Casting Department
Suzanne Osten was born on 20 June 1944 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a director and writer, known for The Guardian Angel (1990), Bröderna Mozart (1986) and Mamma (1982).- Director
- Writer
- Actress
Marie-Louise Ekman was born on 5 November 1944 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a director and writer, known for Barnförbjudet (1979), Puder (2001) and Nu är pappa trött igen (1996). She was previously married to Gösta Ekman, Johan Bergenstråhle and Carl Johan De Geer.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
A distinguished actor, director and composer in Sweden; Stig Olin made his success in many areas of the Swedish entertainment business in the 1940s and 50s. As an actor, he claimed success when he played boyish characters and naive students on film. He was the actor who eventually took the claim of playing Ingmar Bergman's alter-ego in many of his early films, including; Torment (1944) (Bergman's script debut), Crisis (1946), Woman Without a Face (1947) (Bergman wrote the script), Port of Call (1948), Prison (1949), To Joy (1950) and Summer Interlude (1951). Stig Olin then went on to directing some films himself in the 1950s: he not only wrote film scripts but also directed these films himself, as well. As a director, his best film is probably his on-screen adaption of children-novelist Astrid Lindgren's Rasmus, Pontus och Toker (1956); a wonderful classic children's film (very beloved in Sweden) to which Olin also composed the music score and also acted the substantial supporting part as the suspicious antique dealer "Ernst", that the kids in the film come across. Stig Olin then suddenly - quite surprisingly, actually - (as he'd never been trained specifically in music) showed his talent as a composer when he came to write many songs (both the music and the lyrics) that today are considered to be classic evergreens/tunes/schlagers in Sweden: "På söndag" (On Sunday), "Karusellvisan" (recorded by himself), "En gång jag seglar i hamn" (recorded by himself), "Jag tror på sommaren" (recorded by son Mats Olin) and "Människors glädje" (recorded, a.o., by his daughter; actress Lena Olin in the 1970s). Stig Olin sang and performed a lot with his wife at that time; Britta Holmberg, both on stage and on the radio (where the Olin-family had their own radio show for many years in the 1950s and 60s).
On top of this, he also frequently worked at the Swedish Radio with various other shows/programmes and became a very appreciated director for the Swedish Radio Theatre (Radioteatern). In 1970, he became Director of Programmes at Swedish Radio and, from there on, came to work almost exclusively in the radio business in the 1970s and 1980s. Still, he directed several plays and musicals at various private theatres in Stockholm in the 1950s-1980s (including the original Swedish staging of the Stephen Sondheim musical, "A Little Night Music", based on the Ingmar Bergman comedy, "Smiles of a Summer Night") and he has written numerous theatre sketches for all kinds of revues and made the music arrangements for many musicals throughout his life. His best on-screen performances in films include: Torment (1944), Woman Without a Face (1947), To Joy (1950), Summer Interlude (1951), En fästman i taget (1952), Klasskamrater (1952), The Yellow Squadron (1954), Sceningång (1956), Rasmus, Pontus och Toker (1956) and Jim & Piraterna Blom (1987).- Director
- Writer
Lars-Magnus Lindgren was born on 3 July 1922 in Västerås, Västmanlands län, Sweden. He was a director and writer, known for Dear John (1964), Träfracken (1966) and Love Mates (1961). He was married to Vibeke Lindgren, Gunilla Pontén and Kerstin Lindgren. He died on 23 November 2004 in Nacka, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Pernilla August started acting as a child, performing in plays at Vår teater and at school. In 1979 she was accepted at the Statens scenskola to study acting professionally. Director Ingmar Bergman took note of her early and cast her as a nanny in his Fanny and Alexander (1982).
In 1982 she got married to author Klas Östergren and started work at the Folkteatern in Gävle, appearing in August Strindberg's A Dreamplay and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. She returned a few years later to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm for roles in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (as Nora).
Until then she hadn't had any bigger experience of television or movies but Ingmar Bergman specifically asked for her to play his mother in the biographical The Best Intentions (1992) By then her marriage was over and she started a relationship with director Bille August whom she married in 1991 - and had her name changed for the second time. He offered her a role in his The House of the Spirits (1993), but due to her pregnancy the role went to Winona Ryder instead.
She has admirably managed an international career despite having three daughters. She is best known for her appearances in films like Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) or I Am Dina (2002).- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
- Writer
Ella Lemhagen was born on 29 August 1965 in Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden. She is a director and writer, known for Patrik, Age 1.5 (2008), Tsatsiki, Mum and the Policeman (1999) and The Crown Jewels (2011).- Producer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Daniel Alfredson was born on 23 May 1959 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is a producer and director, known for The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009) and Varg (2008). He is married to Stina. They have three children.- Director
- Actress
- Writer
Anna Hofman-Uddgren was born on 23 February 1868 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was a director and actress, known for Fröken Julie (1912), Stockholmsfrestelser eller Ett Norrlands-herrskaps äventyr i den sköna synderskans stad (1911) and Blott en dröm (1911). She died on 1 June 1947.