Jan Troell

Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish filmmaker, screenwriter, author, and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with Ingmar Bergman and Bo Widerberg.

Life and career Troell was born in Limhamn outside Malmö, Sweden. For several years, he worked as an elementary-school teacher but started to make short films in the sixties. In 1965 he co-produced the film 4x4 and it was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. He became director of photography for Bo Widerberg but soon made a debut with his own first feature, Here's Your Life (Här har du ditt liv, 1966), about a working class boy in Sweden, set in the beginning of the 20th century. The film was based upon an autobiographical novel by Eyvind Johnson. For the film he won the Guldbagge Award for Best Director at the 4th Guldbagge Awards. His next film Who Saw Him Die? (Ole dole doff, 1968) won the Golden Bear award at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Troell's major work in the 1970s became The Emigrants (Utvandrarna, 1971) and its sequel The New Land (Nybyggarna, 1972), two epic films about peasants emigrating from the barren Swedish countryside to The United States in the 19th century. Once again, Troell films were based upon the novels of a Swedish working-class author, in this case Vilhelm Moberg's famous Emigrants suite. As in many of Troell's films, Max von Sydow plays one of the major roles. The Emigrants was nominated for several Academy Awards.

After a brief and unsuccessful sojourn in Hollywood, which resulted in the films Zandy's Bride (1974), starring Gene Hackman, and Hurricane (1979), Troell made Flight of the Eagle (Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd, 1982). It is a film about S. A. Andrée's disastrous Arctic balloon expedition of 1897. The Flight of the Eagle was nominated for the Academy Awards (foreign-language film).

The release of Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem (Il Capitano, 1991) became controversial since the film is based upon a true story; the brutal murder of a Swedish family just a few years earlier (see Juha Valjakkala). Yet, it concentrates on the psychological power game between the murderer and his girlfriend rather than the violence of the crime. He was awarded with the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival. It also won the award for Best Film at the 27th Guldbagge Awards.

Troell has also made documentaries, for instance Land of Dreams (Sagolandet, 1988), dealing with modern society's alienation from nature and A Frozen Dream (En frusen dröm, 1997) in which he once again brings up Andrée's polar expedition. Troell took part of an extensive poll by Sight & Sound, where he revealed his favorite films to be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hugo, Modern Times, Hour of the Wolf, The Night of the Hunter and Some Like It Hot.

Despite his age (he is currently in his 90s), Troell has remained productive. His recent films include As White as in Snow (Så vit som en snö, 2001), based on the life of Swedish aviator Elsa Andersson; a documentary called Presence (Närvarande, 2003); Everlasting Moments (Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick, 2008), based on the life of Maria Larsson, a 20th-century, working class photographer; and his latest film, The Last Sentence (Dom över död man)., a biographical film about the Swedish publicist Torgny Segerstedt. The Last Sentence premiered in November 2012 at the Stockholm International Film Festival. At the same festival Troell was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Filmography

Fiction feature films

Documentary feature films Year English title Original title 1988 Land of Dreams Sagolandet 1997 A Frozen Dream En frusen dröm 2003 Presence Närvarande 2007 Tune Färgklang 2011Kalla ingenting för sent

Short films Year Title Minutes 1960 Stad 25 1961 Sommartåg 14 1961 Nyårsafton på skånska slätten 7 1962 Pojken och draken 30 1962 En broder mer 20 1962 De kom tillbaka 24 1962 Båten 21 1963 Drömmar och syner vid havet 25 1964 Trakom 15 1964 Johan Ekberg 21 1964 Den gamla kvarnen 10 1965 Vår i Dalby hage 4 1965 Uppehåll i myrlandet 30 1965 Porträtt av Åsa 29 1975 Nålsögat 29 1989 Tolvslaget – dagens dikt 7 1994 Dansen 20 1997 ... och barnen i äppelträdet 25 2000 92,8 MHz ... drömmar i söder 30 2002 Reflexion 2001 7 2004 The Yellow Tag 10 2010 Med mitt mått mätt – en ökenvandring 6

Cinematography only Year Title Director 1963 The Baby Carriage Bo Widerberg