MOVIES SWEDISH

Teenaged Astrid Lindgren, future author of Pippi Longstocking, leads a carefree life in rural Sweden. Eager to break free from her conservative upbringing, she accepts an internship at a local newspaper where she attracts the attention of its married editor. After Astrid becomes pregnant, she leaves home to give birth to a son, whom she reluctantly leaves with a foster mother. When the foster mother falls ill, Astrid uses her imagination and flair...

When Allan lands in a nursing home, he refuses to celebrate his 100th birthday and instead escapes out a window to embark on a journey that involves a suitcase of cash and a gang of criminals. Flashbacks reveal that Allan played a key role in 20th century history when he was pals with U.S. presidents and Russian tyrants.

Told through the eyes of Alexander and his sister Fanny, we see the exuberant and colorful Ekdahl household in a Swedish town early in the twentieth century. Their parents, Oscar and Emilie, are the director and the leading lady of the local theatre company. Oscar's mother and brother are its chief patrons. After Oscar's early death, his widow marries the bishop and moves with her children to his austere and forbidding chancery. The children are immediately...

In medieval Sweden a knight returns from war only to find a ravaged homeland. He meets up with a group of traveling players and eventually confronts the embodiment of death with whom he engages in a game of chess for his life. The knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused.

A traveling magician bringing his potions and mystical items with him is challenged by the Minister of Health, who believes the magician to be a charlatan. Bonus features include an interview with the director regarding the film and various essays.

Director Stig Björkman allows us unprecedented access to Ingrid Bergman's world, culling from the most personal of archival materials: letters, diary entries, photographs, and Super eight and sixteen mm footage Bergman herself shot, and following her from youth to tumultuous married life and motherhood. Intimate and artful, this lovingly assembled portrait, narrated by actor Alicia Vikander, provides luminous insight into the life and career of an...

In 1909, poor, idealistic theology student Henrik Bergman falls in love with Ann Akerbloom, the intelligent, educated daughter of a rich family in Uppsala. After their wedding Henrik becomes a priest in the north of Sweden. Urbane Anna can't stand living in the rural country and grows increasingly restless. She returns to Uppsala and the couple's love and commitment are put to the test.

A peasant girl is raped and murdered in 14th century Sweden. When her killers seek shelter in her father's house, he kills them to avenge her death. Soon a spring appears from where the girl was killed and her father sees this as a sign from above.

Hypnotic and darkly humorous, this film is a uniquely Scandinavian take on the absurdities of life as it traces a series of bizarre, deadpan and comic vignettes which wryly address the meaning (or lack thereof) of life.