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Until his early retirement at age 50, Hasse Ekman was one of the leading lights of Swedish cinema, an actor, writer, and director of prodigious talents. Yet today his work is virtually unknown outside of Sweden, eclipsed by the filmography of his occasional collaborator (and frequent rival) Ingmar Bergman. This comprehensive introduction-the first ever in English-follows Ekman's career from his early days as a film journalist, through landmark films such as Girl with Hyacinths (1950), to his retirement amid exhaustion and disillusionment. Combining historical context with insightful analyses of Ekman's styles and themes, this long overdue study considerably enriches our understanding of Swedish film history.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction Chapter 1. On Auteurs and National Cinema
Chapter 2. The Social Context
Chapter 3. Swedish Cinema
Chapter 4. Hasse Ekman in the Renaissance
Chapter 5. The Early 1950s
Chapter 6. The Final Years
Chapter 7. Ideas and Legacy
Conclusion Filmography
Works cited
Index
About the author
Fredrik Gustafsson works at the library at the Swedish Film Institute and teaches film history at Örebro University, Sweden. He holds a doctorate in film studies from the University of St. Andrews. He also has programmed numerous Bergman and Ekman retrospectives around the world, writes regularly for La Furia Umana, and blogs at fredrikonfilm.blogspot.com.
Summary
This first-ever English-language book on the subject provides an engaging, comprehensive survey of Ekman's career, combining explorations of historical context with insightful analyses of styles and themes.
