Danielle Solzman
The late Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s 100th birthday is celebrated with a new documentary, Searching for Ingmar Bergman.
In honor of what would be the Oscar nominee’s centennial birthday, director Margarethe von Trotta speaks with family members, Bergman’s actors, and Swedish filmmakers on the rise. In doing so, we get a better idea of who Bergman was as a person and why he made the films he did. What von Trotta seeks to examine are those themes that repeatedly came up, both in Bergman’s life and works. We even get to visit those places that are dear to those works.
As far as Bergman’s life is concerned, von Trotta seeks to explore the life the filmmaker had while living in Germany. Bergman and the Swedish authorities didn’t see eye to eye. The work seems to reflect this period.
von Trotta has personal ties to Bergman herself. It turns out that the director previously selected her for the jury for the European Film Academy in 1990. It’s because of this that she seems like a perfect person to direct this documentary.
Ultimately, viewers can learn quite a bit about the Swedish filmmaker in Searching for Ingmar Bergman.
DIRECTOR: Margarethe von Trotta
CO-DIRECTORS: Felix Moeller and Bettina Böhler
SCREENWRITER: Margarethe von Trotta and Felix Moeller
FEATURING: Liv Ullmann, Daniel Bergman, Ingmar Bergman Jr., Olivier Assayas, Ruben Östlund
