The Memory of Ingmar Bergman

Original title: Minnet av Ingmar Bergman

Directed by: Jörn Donner

Finnish title: Ingmar Bergmanin muisto

Length: 57min

Genre: Documentary

Year of production: 2018

Production country: Finland

Written by: Jörn Donner

Archive footage : © Donner Productions 1975, © Why Not Films GmbH 1997

Director of Photography (new material): Rafael Donner

Editing: Klaus Grabber

Composer: Pedro Hietanen

Producers: Jörn Donner, Misha Jaari, Mark Lwoff

Production companies: Donner Productions, Bufo

In Collaboration with: Kai Holmberg / Why Not Films BmbH

“In March of 1953, as I recall in this memorial film, the then 34-year-old Ingmar Bergman visited Helsinki. He was not yet the world-class star he would later become. I myself was 20 years of age, had written a few books, occupied myself as a film critic, and was passionate about film. It was the beginning of an acquaintance that would last for sixty years.

I wrote two books about him, of which the first (published in 1962) focused exclusively on his films. The second book was published in 2009.

With regard to Bergman, the memorial film comprises previously unreleased fragments from two extensive interviews I conducted with him in 1975 and 1997 – the latter on the occasion of his eightieth birthday on 14 July.

To provide a setting for these conversation snippets, my son Rafael and I made two journeys during the summer of 2017 to Stockholm and to the island of Fårö, where Bergman kept a house for several decades, and where he died.

I tried to recall our acquaintance in my mind, including both its best aspects and the difficulties in associating with him. I also wanted to express something that not all those external to the events have understood: that his film Fanny and Alexander would never have come about without me.

In the film I also openly state something I have often repeated, which is that without Bergman I would be a different man. He has influenced many others, too. It could equally be said that without Bergman, the world of film would not be the same. He lives on through his best works.

My personal reminiscences and Bergman’s own words from the interviews in this film can be my contribution to the celebrations of the centenary of Bergman’s birth.”

-Jörn Donner