More Ingmar Bergman: "Bergman's Video"

I recently learned of a new documentary film project called Bergman's Video, six 45-minute episodes centered on a theme relevant to Ingmar Bergman and some of the more than 1500 videos from his archive.




The series is distributed by First Hand Films and they describe the documentary as: 

A light and entertaining look at the big stories and their makers: having exclusive access to Bergman's private archive with more than 1500 films, an eclectic collection of films was found, spanning from the more predictable ones by Tarkovsky, Bunuel, Truffaut, to the more surprising, such as ”Blues Brothers”, ”FoulPlay”, ”Jurassic Park” and ”Ghostbusters”.

A new insight into the genius of Bergman and most of all, a portrait of the greatest filmmakers of today. How they work, why they choose the themes they keep coming back to and why film is an artform like no other.  Each episode will focus on a theme ... Fear, Silence, Comedy, Death, Adventure and Insanity. For every episode one filmmaker gets to visit and experience Ingmar Bergman’s remote home, others Bergman’s Video will meet and interview around the world. 

The filmmakers and actors featured include Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Woody Allen, Gus van Sant, Robert de Niro, Michael Haneke, Claire Denis, Ang Lee, Lars von Trier, Agnieszka Holland, Martin Scorsese, Isabella Rosselini, and many others.

Liv Ullmann on "Face to Face"

For nearly a decade, the Bergman Center on Fårö has been hosting Bergman Week, providing guests an opportunity to see films, attend lectures, and view exhibits related to Ingmar Bergman's career and life. I hope to have the opportunity to attend sometime soon.

I recently viewed Bergman's 1976 film Face to Face, starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, and found it one of the most difficult Bergman films to watch due to the raw and intense emotions vividly portrayed by Liv Ullmann. So, I found it quite interesting to see this short video from Bergman Week 2010 where she talks about some of the humor behind the scenes.

The 10 best European Films of all time

Bibi Andersson in "Wild Strawberries"

Ok, so that’s not exactly what this post is about … I’ve been thinking about the best way to introduce our assistant editor, Logan, to the world of foreign film.  These will not necessarily be among the films on the all-time greats lists. Rather, I’m thinking of films that are accessible (or fairly so) and won’t make him vow to never watch a subtitled film again. 


Yes, I know this is a bit early since he’s not even two years old but I don’t want him to think the Chipmunks Squeakquel and later, Mission Impossible 23 are the best film has to offer. Though he won’t view any of these films for awhile here’s my (current) list of the top 10 European films for him to watch before he’s 15 (or maybe 17). These are not in any particular order but I’ll start (as it always does here) with Bergman:

1.       Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman: Perhaps, like his father, he’ll fall in love with Bibi Andersson (or Ingrid Thulin) while watching this movie … one of Bergman’s best and most enjoyable films.

2.       Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders: This can be a slow film (his mother has yet to remain awake through it ... but don't tell her I said that!), it requires concentration but it’s beautifully made and acted.

3.       Amelie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Perhaps, like his father, Logan will fall in love with Audrey Tautou while watching this movie … feels like I already wrote that. A fun little love story.

Amelie

4.       Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore: My little Italian son already reminds me of young Toto and this movie is a great tribute to the magic of the cinematic experience. And it will help him learn to speak Italian.

5.       The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius: No subtitles so maybe this doesn’t count … but another great film about the joys of cinema.

6.       Trois Couleurs by Krzysztof Kieslowski: Ok, I’m cheating a bit here with three films but I really can’t pick just one, though Blue and Red are by far the best of the trilogy.

7.       The 400 Blows by Francois Truffaut: I considered The Man Who Loved Women (see numbers 1 & 3 above) but decided Truffaut’s debut was the best introduction to his work … and I can already see that Logan is a bit of a mischief maker so he’ll enjoy Antoine Doinel (and the subsequent films).

Toto in "Cinema Paradiso"

8.       La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini: A beautiful city, beautiful women, great music, and the ever-cool Marcello Mastroianni. If Logan wants to model himself after an Italian actor he couldn’t do any better than Marcello.

Marcello Mastroianni

9.       Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard: Cool, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and the lovely Jean Seberg--one of the seminal films of the French New Wave and I definitely prefer the Godard of the 60s.

10.  Let the Right One In by Tomas Alfredson: he's gotta love a good vampire flick, no?  

I would have loved to get a Tarkovsky film on this list but if it's true that attention spans have now decreased to 5 seconds, I think it’s probably best to move through some of these films first. Of course, we have a few years before Logan will be ready to watch the films on this list and there just might be some new ones to add by that time.

What films did I miss? What would you recommend?

An Absinthe Manifesto?

Ingmar Bergman

At Absinthe we enjoy a good manifesto as much as anyone and we've been working on one of our own. But instead of depending on our own clever lines we've decided to enlist the collective wisdom of some of our favorite European artists, writers, & filmmakers to succinctly reflect Absinthe's vision and mission.    

We’re looking for suggestions before we finalize our list. Here are a few that we’re considering now:

• Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees—Marcel Proust

• The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion—Albert Camus

• Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood—Friedrich Nietzsche

• Lilies often grow out of carcasses' arseholes—Ingmar Bergman

(Ok, my co-editor has vetoed the Bergman quote!)

What are your suggestions?

10 indicators that he (or she) is just not that into you (or vice versa)

I'm often confronted with a question that goes something like this (as posed indelicately by a gentleman at AWP, of all places): Why on earth do you publish a magazine of European art and writing in the U.S.?

Usually I fumble over some polite response when the simple truth is that I publish Absinthe for the opportunity to read the awesome writers we feature. We publish great authors who should be translated and read but obviously Absinthe is not everyone's "cup of tea" and that's fine. Go read ... (ok, I'll keep that thought to myself).

So, with the imminent publication of Absinthe #15 (a great issue, I might add) let me suggest 10 indicators that you just might not be that into Absinthe (or vice versa):

1. You order a side of freedom fries with that burger

2. You’ve never read (or written) a manifesto

3. You think Titanic or Avatar is the greatest film ever

4. You think Oulipo is the name of an Oompa Loompa

5. You think Ingmar Bergman starred in Casablanca

6. You think everyone should just learn and speak English, dammit

7. You would never watch a movie that makes you read subtitles and think people who do are snobs

8. You hear mention of Dada and think of your father

9. You can’t name a single magazine or newspaper you read to inform your view of the world

10. You think Glenn Beck is the greatest living author

What would you add to this list?

Love Doesn't Work: New Fiction by Henning Koch

Longtime Absinthe advisor Henning Koch has a new collection of short stories out from Dzanc Books, Love Doesn't Work.

The collection includes the story "In Memoriam, Ingmar Bergman," which originally appeared in Absinthe #9.

According to Dzanc's website:

Love Doesn't Work offers classic storytelling with profound, startling insights into human desire and its shortfalls. Inspired by the ancient Cathars, these seven tales present a vision of life as an inevitable struggle against ignorance, darkness and sexual confusion. Devilish and playful in tone, they leave the reader with a sense of outraged satisfaction and delight.

Grab a copy; I know you'll enjoy it. You can order it from Dzanc Books here.

Arts & Faith Top 100 Films

Arts & Faith, affiliated with one of my favorite literary journals--IMAGE--has published their list of the top 100 films.

There are many European films on the list, as expected, including films from the usual suspects: Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Wim Wenders, Robert Bresson, and Krystof Kieslowski, among others.

Recent films by the Dardenne Brothers (see previous post) and Romanian directors Cristi Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu) and Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days) also make the list.

The group would definitely make for an excellent film festival.

Learn about how the list was put together here.

Sergei Bulgakov, Bergman, and the Role of the Artist

Over the last few years I’ve been reading work by and about Sergei Bulgakov, the Russian thinker and theologian who died in 1944. Most recently I completed the fascinating anthology Sergii Bulgakov: Toward a Russian Political Theology, edited by Rowan Williams, current Archbishop of Canterbury.

In an essay on heroism he contrasts the hero who “cast(s) himself in the role of providence, arrogates to himself … a greater responsibility than can be borne … a greater task than a human being can encompass” with a “Christian” heroism that is “liberated from heroic posturing and pretension” and “is concentrated on (the) immediate task, … concrete obligations and the fulfilling of them.”

In a later essay this humility and clear-minded focus is deemed necessary for the artist who works amidst the “awareness of (arts) own impotence, in the appalling schism between what is revealed to it of the true splendor of the world and the concrete reality of its deformity and ugliness.” Bulgakov goes on to say that “art yearns to become transfigurative, not just pleasing or consoling; transfigurative in a real, not a symbolic sense” and invokes Dosteoevsky’s famous dictum that “Beauty will save the world.”

Bulgakov’s views reminded me of comments made by Ingmar Bergman in an essay on filmmaking in 1954:

… it is my opinion that art lost its creative urge the moment it was separated from worship. It severed the umbilical cord and lives its own sterile life,
generating and degeneration itself. The individual has become the highest form
and greatest bane of artistic creation. Creative unity and humble anonymity are
forgotten and buried relics without significance or meaning. The smallest cuts
and moral pains of the ego are examined under the microscope as if they were of
eternal importance.

Thus we finally gather in one large pen, where we stand and bleat about our loneliness without listening to each other and without realising that we are smothering each other to death. The individualists stare into each other's eyes and yet deny the existence of each other, and cry out into the darkness without once receiving the healing power of communal happiness…

If thus I am asked what I should like to be the general purpose for my films, I would reply that I want to be one of the artists in the cathedral on the great plain. I want to make a dragon's head, an angel or a devil - or perhaps a saint - out of stone. It does not matter which, it is the feeling of contentment that matters. Regardless whether I believe or not, regardless whether I am a Christian or not, I play my part at the collective building or cathedral. For I am an artist and a craftsman; and I know how to chisel stone into faces and figures.

I never need to concern myself about present opinion or the judgment of the posterity. I am a name which has not been recorded anywhere and which will disappear when I myself disappear; but a little part of me will live on in the triumphant masterwork of the anonymous craftsmen. A dragon, a devil, or perhaps a saint, it does not matter which.

If only I could speak Swedish ...

The Ingmar Bergman Estate is now hiring its first Artistic Director. We are seeking someone rich on initiative, with sound judgment, cooperative skills, and a thorough knowledge of arts and culture. The Artistic Director will, in collaboration with the Bergman Estate Board, build and develop the organization according to the foundation's statutes and guidelines. The Artistic Director will be responsible
for the daily management of the Estate’s activities and their content. The Artistic Director will also be expected to initiate and develop collaborations with institutions on a national and international level. The position includes budgetary responsibilites.


The position of artistic director entails two main areas of responsibility:

• Planning and realizing the Estate's public events, such as an annual winter festival, activities for children and youth, film screenings, seminars, as well as other cultural activities
– many times in collaboration with the Ingmar Bergman Foundation and the Fårö Bergman Center Foundation.
• Evaluating applications from artists and scholars who apply for residency at the Bergman Estate, and forwarding propositions to the board for final decision. Coordinating the residencies is included in this responsibility.

Qualifications:
• You are familiar with Ingmar Bergman’s work and well versed in the realms of film, theater, art, literature, and music.
• You will be the foundation’s public face, and must have the skills to communicate and cooperate on a regional, national, and international level. Strong language skills are an important criterion.
• You are an experienced leader, preferably with extensive work experience within art and culture.
• You have well documented administrative skills, including budgetary responsibilities, as well as capacities for analysis and comparison, and the ability to express yourself in writing.

The Artistic Director must be flexible when it comes to working hours and will be spending a significant amount of time on the beautiful island of Fårö and in the Gotland region. The position entails full-time employment for an initial two-year period, with the prospect of extension It is ready to be filled as soon as possible.
Salary is negotiable.

Send application including CV and references to:
Kerstin Brunnberg, Nordenskiöldsgatan 80,
11521 Stockholm, Sverige.
kerstin.brunnberg@gmail.com.
Tlf + 46 705 985 017

Ingmar Bergman Archives

There was a very large box waiting for me when I returned home this evening and I was excited to find my copy of TASCHEN's The Ingmar Bergman Archives. It's an incredible collection of rare photos, interviews, and writings by Bergman, along with a DVD of documentary footage. Much more information can be found at TASCHEN's web site.

Absinthe Recommends

Absinthe recommends the Arts and Ideas podcast from the BBC. Recently the German filmmaker Wim Wenders was interviewed and spoke about his return to Europe after living in the U.S. for many years. The novels Day In Day Out by Terezia Mora (translated by Michael Henry Heim) and The Book of Words by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated by Susan Bernofsky). Irving Singer writes about Ingmar Bergman in Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosopher. Check out the winner of the Foreign-language Academy Award The Lives of Others, directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck and the Danish film After the Wedding, directed by Susanne Bier.

Absinthe #8

Absinthe #8 is done and out in the world. It features some great writers and if you haven't seen this issue it's not too late to subscribe and have it delivered right to your door. Below is the introduction I wrote for issue 8:

From the Managing Editor

A response I sometimes get from people when they learn we’re publishing another issue of Absinthe is one of surprise and/or shock. Really? I never thought you’d publish a second (or third … fourth … fifth) issue. I’m unable to muster up any genuine offense because I’ve also had the same thoughts, but here we are with issue 8 and the odds are good we’ll be back with another in six months. In addition to great poetry and fiction (by Moikom Zeqo, Julia Franck, Manuel Rivas, and Bogdan Suceava, among others), Absinthe 8 features art by Kristen Pieroth, Clemens von Wedemeyer, and Markus Schinwald, thanks to our new arts editors Sanaz and Stefan Keisbye. The issue also includes work by two Welsh writers (Grahame Davies and Gwyn Thomas) made possible by the generous assistance of Peter Finch, Elin Williams, and Bronwen Price at The Welsh Academy.

In the last issue I mentioned my appreciation of Ingmar Bergman and while we were completing Absinthe 8 the great Swedish filmmaker passed away (on the same day, incidentally, as Michelangelo Antonioni). So it seems appropriate to add to my previous comments. My first experience with the films of Ingmar Bergman took place while in graduate school at the University of Michigan. Every week for a semester I went over to the Michigan Theatre to see these odd films: The Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries, Fanny and Alexander, and many others. Until then, my idea of a good film was typical Hollywood fare like Star Wars or an Indiana Jones film. Though I wasn’t taking the Bergman course (and therefore, wasn’t required to attend these films) I was drawn back week after week by Bergman’s struggle to believe in a silent God, his explorations of familial relationships and his realistic depictions of the joys and sorrows experienced by lovers (and also, to be honest, by the beautiful Swedish actresses). Eventually I had rented every Bergman film available, read his autobiography and other books, and traveled to New York to see a half-dozen Bergman-directed plays performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Bergman led to Fellini and Tarkovsky and Kieslowski and Truffaut and Wenders and he also inspired my reading of Ibsen and Strindberg and Chekhov and Kundera and as the old shampoo commercial says, and so on and so on … Therefore, my interest in foreign film and the world of literary translation originates with Bergman and, consequently, it is no exaggeration to suggest that Absinthe would not exist without his films. So we dedicate this issue to the memory of Ingmar Bergman.