Sofia Sees Rare Screening of Bergman Swan Song

Society | October 7, 2004, Thursday // 00:00
Sofia Sees Rare Screening of Bergman Swan Song Ingmar Bergman admirers look at a poster of his final film "Saraband," a must-see at the Sofia major festival, dedicated to the life and work of the great Swedish director. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (novinite.com)

Ingmar Bergman's final film, "Saraband," is a must-see at Sofia major festival, dedicated to the life and work of the great Swedish director.

Sofia is among the first cities to screen the film after it featured among the offerings of the prestigious 42nd annual festival in New York, marking the return of the veteran filmmaker.

Last year a number of festivals, including Cannes Film Festival, were denied the right to screen the film, a sequel to the Swedish film icon's "Scenes from a Marriage," (1973), with which 86-year Bergman officially closed his career.

Sofia festival, which kicked off on Thursday, honors the revered Swedish director with a look back at his work. For three weeks Sofia will enjoy 20 Bergman movies, covering his best films from 1944 till 2003.

An exhibition on the beginnings of Bergman's unique artistic career will be organized in the framework of the festival under the name "Before Ingmar became Bergman".

A book by Liv Ullmann, one of the greatest actresses in Bergman's films will be issued in Bulgarian, together with Bergman's "Images".

Maar Koskinen, one of the most prominent Swedish scholars on Bergman, is a special guest of the festival and will give two lectures in Sofia.

The large-scale event is initiated by Bulgaria's Cinema Center and takes place with the assistance of Sweden's Embassy in Sofia, Swedish Institute and the personal contribution of the Ambassador's spouse Charlotte Roth.

Sweden's Ingmar Bergman is one of the few directors who changed the cinema of the 1950s, treating it like theatre, with works primarily in the chamber cinema genre, pregnant with multiple levels and metaphysical possibilities. Best known for the medieval epic The Seventh Seal and the US hit Cries and Whispers, he continued to shoot exceptional movies even in the seventh decade of filmmaking.

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