Ingmar Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES | Swedenborg Film Season 2012

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As part of the Swedenborg Film Season 2012, we are pleased to present WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957) at Swedenborg Hall, 'one of London's most atmospheric venues' (The Guardian). Admission is free but capacity is limited. WILD STRAWBERRIES (Smultronstället, 1957) (91 mins) Wild Strawberries is the film that propelled Bergman to the forefront of world cinema. It is also generally considered to be one of his richest and most humane films, and won him an academy award for Best Foreign Film. Wild Strawberries tells the tale of Professor Isak Borg (played by the veteran Swedish director Victor Sjöström), who is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and accept the inevitability of his approaching death. Shot in black and white, Wild Strawberries mingles imaginary from everyday life with flashbacks, fantasies, dreams and nightmares. In the final scenes the professor retires to bed one evening and is overcome by a sense of peace and dreams of a family picnic by a lake. Doors open at 6.30 for a 7 pm start. Admission is free but capacity is limited. Advance booking is highly recommended via nora@swedenborg.org.uk. ABOUT THE SWEDENBORG FILM SEASON Weekly screenings of films by Ingmar Bergman in grade-II-listed Swedenborg Hall, 'one of London's most atmospheric venues' (The Guardian). Admission is free but capacity is limited. Following the success of last year's season of Robert Bresson films, we are pleased to announce the forthcoming screening of three great films by the Swedish director Ingmar Berman. Well known for his interest in Swedenborg, Bergman wrote and directed over fifty feature films, and from the late 1950s his work has since become canonical to ‘art-house' movie culture, academic cinema studies and film clubs all over the world. In addition to filmmaking he has also directed and produced numerous plays, including a famous interpretation of August Strindberg's Inferno, itself heavily influenced by the work of Swedenborg. The films selected for screening at Swedenborg house all feature images and symbols redolent of ideas found in Swedenborg, as well as being reflective of the great early period of Bergman's cinematic career. The Swedenborg film season is now an annual event organized/curated by Stephen McNeilly and Nora Foster, with Howard Turner serving as in-house projectionist.