As the film world remembers Ingmar Bergman, the Goteborg International Film Festival has reiterated its plans to host a Bergman retrospective during its 31st event, Jan 25-Feb 4, 2008.
About 50 of the director's features will be screened during the fifth Bergman week Jan 24-29. Goteborg has a long history with Bergman, who served as the festival's honorary president. The festival is represented in the council of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation.
Last year, the festival inuagurated a young film-makers award in the director's name, the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award, which Andrea Arnold won for Red Road.
'In the first place you feel very sad because a human being has passed away. It is always sad when a person dies, and it always comes unexpected. Of course my thoughts go out to his family, nearest and dearest, said Marit Kapla, director of the Goteborg festival. 'The plan was to celebrate a living director's 90th birthday with a retrospective. His work is worth discovering and rediscovering over and over again. Even if many of the films are available on DVD, it is a totally different experience to see them on the big screen. Our retrospective will now turn in to a posthumous homage, which will give the event a different character.'
Also, the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 15-25) plans to host a screening of 1957's Wild Strawberries and host a seminar on Bergman's international significance.
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