Before Ingmar Became Bergman
2 June 2005 - 30 June 2005

An exhibition in the State Hermitage Youth Center dedicated to the start of a unique career in art.

"Somewhere in the depths of my heedless soul
I harbor a whimsical thought:
Once, perhaps twice,
Something bright and splendid is born
Amidst all this pitiful ugliness.
A tiny genuine pearl emerges from
The huge, black and ugly shell of a sea mollusk.
And if it is born to me one fine day,
That will signify that I have realized my life’s calling."

(Ingmar Bergman, at age 20. Citation from a black bound notebook dated 1938)

The exhibition entitled Before Ingmar Became Bergman is an entertaining presentation of the first steps of a young man towards universal fame and glory. It is a tribute to his boundless youthful Weltanschauung. This exhibition provides a foretaste of Bergman’s professional career in cinema, theater and literature. It tells us about the years Before Ingmar Became Bergman, while at the same time making reference to his film classics which were based on his early impressions and also to his late master works made when he was in his 80’s but remained highly active as in the past.

The exhibition covers the period between 1938 and 1946. The earliest materials date from 1938 and the exhibition ends with his first full-length art film Crisis, made in 1946. This very early period in Bergman’s career is being presented to a wide audience for the first time. The epilogue is Bergman’s latest film, Sarabanda, and his latest stage production of Ghosts by Ibsen.

Material taken from the archives of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation for display in the exhibition: includes scripts, working notes, quotations, sketches and photographs relating to his first stage productions and films: Frenzy (Hets) the first script, and Crisis (Kris) - which marked Bergman’s debut as film director; a film projector which Ingmar received as a Christmas present when he was 10 and which became his favorite toy; a short, 10-minute film which he directed entitled Karin’s Face (Karins Ansikte), which was based on photographs of his mother from family albums.

The exhibition deals with five basic themes:
Bergman’s school years, a period reflected in his first work in cinematography, namely the scenario for the film Frenzy;
the start of his career as stage director, when his experience was brought into his first plays and we often see his alter ego playing the main role;
the relations between the young Bergman and his family, which we can later trace in his family dramas and the portraits of women in his films as well as in his literary and autobiographical work;
the real landscapes and small villages of Sweden, which became part of Bergman’s biography and were shown in the "imaginary topography" of his films;
and an epilogue devoted to the aging director’s bidding farewell to the cinema and theater and touching upon an eventual and inevitable farewell to life.
Seminar and screening of documentary films
Bergman in three dimensions

On 16 and 30 June documentary films by Mary Nyrerod will be shown in the Youth Center at 18.00. In these documentaries the great producer sums up his life and work. The films also present a great deal of material from personal archives which was never seen before.

Program

Thursday, 16 June, at 18.00
Bergman and the island of Faro.
This documentary film could be called "Bergman and Life". Filmed at his home on the seacoast, the director talks about his childhood, which so influenced him. He tells us how the art of cinema was so often a joy for him. He also speaks about love and death and lists his worst demons!

Mary Nyrerod introduces the film and talks about her meetings with the already mature and brilliant director, as well as about her work on a documentary trilogy.

Thursday, 30 June, at 18.00
Bergman and the Cinema.
Ingmar Bergman makes a farewell visit to the studio where he shot the majority of his films. This documentary film includes a great number of excerpts from the best films by the famous director, as well unique additional material from private archives.

Bergman and the Theater.
Bergman bid farewell to the cinema in his 1982 film entitled Fanny and Alexander, apparently without any regret. "It was rather more difficult to say goodbye to the theater," he says now. For five decades the Royal Drama Theater in Stockholm was his workplace. In his own words, his ghost will haunt the theater after his death.
Producer/Director: Mary Nyrerod
Cameraman: Arne Karlsson and others.
Editing: Kurt Bergmark

The exhibition is open daily from June 2nd to 30th in the State Hermitage Youth Center (Moyka Embankment, 45).
Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10.30-17.30; Thursdays from 12.00-20.00; Sundays from 10.30-17.00.
The showing of the exhibition Before Ingmar Became Bergman in St Petersburg has been made possible by support from the General Consulate of Sweden, the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, and the Swedish Institute.

Poster
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Ingmar Bergman
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Portrait of Ingmar Bergman
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Poster
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