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Image: Lise Åserud/NTB scanpix Image: Jessica Scanlon Image: Claudio Bresciani / TT Image: Chris Pizzello \ INVISION \ TT 1992 1985 2006 2011 2013 2016 2020 Few Scandinavians in film have had the The American cartoonist American civil rights activist Tarana Burke Anna Serner (b. 1964) became CEO of the 2013 is considered a hallmark year for In 2016, (b. 1988) won an Film is one of the most global and powerful wide international success of actress, (b. 1938) first wrote about what is now known (b. 1973) began using the phrase ‘Me Too’ in 2011. Under her women in Swedish film. At the Guldbagge Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her media we have today. In many ways it writer and director Liv Ullmann (b. 1938). under the name in her comic on a MySpace page way back in 2006. She tenure the gender equality perspective Awards (2012) grabbed the top role in The Danish , as only the second reflects that exist in society, She received BAFTA Award nominations strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. Bechdel did it as part of a campaign that promoted permeates everything the foundation does, honours Best Film, Best Director and Best Swedish actress – or – to win an but it can also contribute to change them. for her performances in Bergman’s Scenes credited the idea to her friend Liz Wallace, ‘empowerment through empathy’ among from production funding to recruitment of Screenplay, with (b. 1980, Academy Award, following . Representation, diversity and gender-parity from a Marriage (1973) and Face to Face why it is sometimes also called the Bechdel women of colour who had experienced new personnel. In the new Film Policy that director, writer) and China Åhlander (producer) Vikander had begun taking notice of the are crucial to the filmmaking process. (1976), as well as two Academy Award Wallace test. To pass the test, a film must sexual abuse. Burke, herself a victim, has was enacted by the government 2017, gender accepting the awards. absence of female directors and co-stars Gender equality is not only a fundamental nominations for The Emigrants (1971) have (1) at least two named women in it, said she was inspired to use the phrase since equality and diversity in film is one of the The were introduced in on the film sets. It had all culminated during human right, but a necessary foundation and Face to Face, paving the way for an (2) who talk to each other, (3) about some­ wishing she had simply answered ‘me too’ seven goals. international career. thing besides a man. After the test became to a 13-year-old girl who had confided in her 1964, and to date eight Best Director awards the shooting of Tulip Fever (2017), after for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable more widely discussed in the 2000s, similar that she had been sexually assaulted. In 2016, Serner presented the Swedish Film have gone to women, with Pichler the most completing a scene with English actress world. It’s the United Nations’ fifth goal of the

In 1982, Ullmann first tried her hand at tests started to emerge. The Bechdel Test is Institute’s action plan ‘50/50 by 2020: recent winner and the first Holliday Grainger: ‘I’d just made five films 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. directing, making one of six shorts in the More than a decade later, in 2017, actress Gender equality in film production, both with Near and Far Away (1977). in a row, and this was the first one where an imperfect tool for gauging a film’s gender Just like the Swedish Film Institute, other anthology Love, written, directed and Alyssa Milano (b. 1972) tweeted the hashtag in front of and behind the camera’ at the I had a scene with another ,’ Vikander progressivism, but it encourages audiences These numbers may not seem impressive national film organisations to have action produced by women. But it would take her #MeToo, aiming to draw attention to sexual , aiming to raise aware­ said in an interview with The Guardian. to think critically about the film media. but can be viewed in light of how many plans for gender parity include Telefilm another ten years before finally directing assault and harassment following the reports ness about gender equality in film, while major international awards are handed out Together with her agent Charles Collier, Canada, Screen Ireland, Eurimages, her first full-length feature,Sofie (1992), In 2013, cinema entrepreneur Ellen Tejle of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer highlighting Swedish initiatives. In inter­ to women. In the US, for example, Kathryn in 2016 Vikander set up her own production Norwegian Film Institute and New Zealand to international praise. (b. 1984), together with WIFT Sverige and Harvey Weinstein. The response was national comparisons, has come four Swedish movie theatres, made a logo enormous, with 85 countries engaged in Bigelow became the first and only woman company Vikarious Productions, aimed at Film Commission, to name just a few. Then in 1995, Ullmann followed up with quite far in gender equality in the film for the test, saying ‘Approved Bechdel the movement within 10 days. to date to win an Oscar for best direction in bringing more women into leading creative One way to reach the goal is to monitor Kristin Lavransdatter, a three-hour industry. But progress sure remains, judging Wallace Test’. In 2013, only 30 per cent of 2010 for Hurt Locker. And is positions. The company’s first feature how subsidies for directing, scriptwriting medieval epos about a woman challenging In Sweden, the online commitment was par­ by the Swedish Film Institute’s gender Swedish feature films passed the Bechdel the only woman to receive the Palme d’Or in Euphoria (2017) was a drama written and and production are distributed. Another conventions to be with the man she loves tic­ularly high, resulting in separate tags for equality report in 2018. test. The next year, that rate jumped to Cannes, which she won in 1993 for . directed by , with Vikander way is to put forward significant women rather than accept an arranged marriage. different industries, including #TystnadTagning 60, and in 2015, 80 per cent of Swedish One of the big problems remaining in the and Eva Green in the two lead roles. in the , who’s history to a large Meanwhile, Bergman was cutting down (#SilenceAction), an open letter and mani­ Swedish film industry is the money issue. extent still remains unknown. films earned an A-rating seal. The A-rate There are good reasons to take such action: on his own directing and found Ullmann festo by some 800 actresses that detailed Statistically, women and men are quite movement is now active in more than ten in 2016 the research company Polygraph Hence, Nordic Women in Film has been perfectly suited to direct his scripts. the prevalence of sexual abuse in the film equally represented in Swedish low-budget countries across the globe. analysed roughly 2,000 scripts and revealed launched by the Swedish Film Institute. It resulted in television filmsPrivate and theatre industry. films. But the more money involved, the less that actresses had the most amount of It’s a knowledge bank and a source of Confessions (1996) and Faithless (2000), women are likely to feature as director, writer, dialogue in only 22 per cent of the films. inspiration about women in film, with a AIMING FOR 50/50 the latter garnering Ullmann a Palme d’Or producer or as the lead actor. Few women Furthermore, the amount of dialogue by age- collection of name entries, topical portraits, nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. in Sweden manage to take the step to high- Ever since the silent era, women have range is opposite for women versus men. in-depth articles, interviews and film clips, budget projects, in something of a catch-22 been involved in filmmaking. Many In 2014, she directed Dialogue available to women over 40 years intended to disseminate knowledge and situation. The number of tickets sold is highly of them are now forgotten despite and Colin Farrell in a screen adaptation old decrease substantially. For men, there awareness of women’s professional con­ linked with the budgets of the films, and films prominence during their day. The global of August Strindberg’s drama Miss Julie. are more roles available to older . With tributions to film, from both a historical with male directors, producers or lead actors film industry still remains dominated a shorter career span, one could hope that and a present-day perspective. generally get wider distribution, which in by men, but in many countries women actresses would earn more, but according turn means more cinemagoers. Since Cannes Film Festival in 2018, when are increasingly assuming their rights. to Forbes, between 1 June 2016 and 1 June the Pledge for Gender Parity and Inclusion The Swedish Film Institute has put in 2017, the world’s 10 highest-­paid actors was launched, almost all A-rated film motion action plans to achieve gender made 2.8 times as much as the 10 highest- festivals in the world has signed, except parity within directing, producing and paid actresses. for festivals in Asia. By signing, the festivals scriptwriting of Swedish features and commit to increase gender equality in documentary films. There has been the programming as well as within the both success and progress, but work organisations by 2020. still remains.

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WOMEN IN FILM FOUNDED IN 1973

Anna Hoffman –Uddgren Sweden’s first female

Image: Alice Guy Blache, Everett Collection Image: Filminstitutet Girl in tails. Illustration: Kidler Image: Jan EhnemarK 1952, SvD 34893, stadsmuseum Image: Leif R Jansson/TT Barry Lyndon. Image: CAP/RFS / CAPITAL PICTURES / TT Image: Ingalill Rydberg, Stadsteatern 1896 1910 1933 1958 1964 1973 1976 1982 Contemporary with the Lumière brothers, There is no definite consensus on who Karin Swanström (1873–1942) has a special Although Swedish film production reached Actress, and director As publisher and editor of The Hollywood A film production is a team effort, often with Director and writer ’s Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968) was the to call Sweden’s first female film director. place in Swedish film history, as actress, a peak in the mid-1900s, there were fewer Mai Zetterling (1925–1994) was often Reporter, Tichi Wilkerson Kassel (1926–2004) hundreds if not thousands of people involved. (b. 1944) was a film critic whose first female film director in history, and In 1910, 32-minute feature Värmländningarna director – and boss. In 1933 she became women in positions of power than during discouraged by the industry to do anything had become highly aware of the job scarcity While the leading positions as director, frustrating efforts to direct a film in a most likely the very first director to premiered in Sweden, a film where Ebba creative head at Svensk Filmindustri (SF), the era. It was not until the 1960s beyond acting, but her ambitions pushed for women in Hollywood. In 1973 she there­ producer and writer have traditionally male-dominated film industry are the make a fiction film,La Fée aux Lindkvist (1882–1942) served as instructor Sweden’s top production company, which that women gained a more prominent role her against the current and she earned fore founded Women in Film, a non-profit been dominated by men, women are often subject matter of Osten’s debut film Choux, in 1896. She entered Gaumont – of actors, while photographer Ernst Dittmer meant that she decided which films were in film like in the 1920s. a spot behind of the camera. Today she is organisation that helps women in the film better represented in positions such as Mamma (1982). Osten comes back to her the first and oldest film company in the is said to have called the visual shots. to be made in Sweden. During Swanström’s a feminist icon whose writing and directing business through mentoring and providing documentary directing, editing, casting, mother’s struggles in the filmThe Girl, Ulla Isaksson (1916–2000) is first and world – as secretary to founder Léon Lindkvist was retrospectively credited 1933–1941 tenure, SF cemented its position themes remain relevant. In 1964, she made opportunities.The organisation has since and costume design. the Mother and the Demons (2016). foremost known as a novelist but contributed Gaumont, but quickly became an inhouse as the film’s director. as Sweden’s dominant film force, churning her directing debut with Loving Couples, come to include television as well. This time, it’s the mother’s psychosis with her scriptwriting to the international When it comes to costume design, at least director. Delivering qualitative shorts out both and elegant comedies. a film that received mostly positive criticism and schizophrenia that are told from The more flamboyantAnna Hofman-Uddgren success of . Their first The Swedish chapter, WIFT Sverige, was one woman has been nominated at every with a tremendous work rate, she also yet upset audiences in Cannes because of the child’s point of view. (1868–1947) is often called Sweden’s first As director, she shot several silent films, collaboration was with the filmBrink of founded in in 2003 and grew out Academy Award event since the category supervised the company’s other directors. its liberal sexual expression. female film director. While also an actress, most notably Girl in Tails from 1926. The film, Life (1958), a film about life in a maternity of the disbanded Swedish Women’s Film was introduced in 1948, and two Swedish Osten was awarded a Guldbagge From 1896 to 1906 she was probably the vaudeville artist, scriptwriter and theatre where the female lead goes to a ball dressed ward. Directed by Bergman, it received Zetterling’s Night Games (1966) also caused Association (SKFF), founded in 1976. Since women have made their mark in the category. (Sweden’s equivalent to the Oscar) for only woman film director in the world. director, Hofman-Uddgren directed six films in her brother’s tail suit and then flees to overwhelmingly positive reviews and won a stir – this time in Venice – because of 2013, Helene Granqvist (b. 1961) is president. Best Director for The Mozart Brothers In 1976, Ulla-Britt Söderlund (1943–1985) With husband Herbert Blaché, she moved during 1911–1912, two of which were based an estate inhabited by intellectual women, the Palme d’Or, Best Director and Best its sexual content. The following films, In 2018 she also became president of Women (1986), a film that was both a critical jointly won an Oscar for Best Costume to the , where they set up on August Strindberg plays Miss Julie and has come to be viewed both as a comedy Actress award at Cannes. Isaksson was left Doctor Glas (1968) and The (1968), in Film & Television International, that covers and commercial success. The Guardian Design with Milena Canonero for Stanley Gaumont’s operations. In 1910, the two The Father. classic and a feminist-pioneering film from slightly in the shadows, but she did not let were met by such criticism that it made six continents, 50 networks and more than Angel (1990), like many of her films, Kubrick’s epos Barry Lyndon. Then in 1984, struck out on their own and founded the the Swedish silent era. that affect her. She soon joined Bergman it almost impossible for Zetterling to 20,000 members. deals with political issues and was Marik Vos (1923–1994) followed in the same Solax Company with partner George A. for another collaboration, The Virgin Spring raise funds for new projects in Sweden. selected for Un Certain Regard at the steps as she won an Oscar for her costume Magie. Through the company, Guy-Blaché (1960), a film that would earn Bergman his It took fourteen years before she had the Cannes Film Festival in 1990. Speak up! design in Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece resumed to directing silent shorts, and first Academy Award. opportunity to make her next feature film, It’s so dark (1993) is about the wave of , a film that also the company prospered to the point that the British-produced Scrubbers, in 1982. neo-Nazism that swept through Sweden In 1977 Isaksson reworked her novel Paradise earned Anna Asp (b. 1946) an Oscar for they could afford to build their own studio Before returning to Sweden with Amorosa in the 1980s and 90s. Place into a film drama with , best production design. in 1912. (1986), she worked on a series of shorts who also directed. Ingmar Bergman, who Osten is a pioneer in developing theatre and documentaries. During the course of her career, she closely followed Ulla Isaksson’s work over for children and has throughout her directed hundreds of films of various the years, stepped into the role of producer. career advocated for art and culture for length, either as sole director or jointly In 1986, Bergman and Isaksson reunited as children and youth. In 1975, she formed with her husband, and pioneered a whole director-writer duo with The Blessed Ones, Unga Klara, a branch of Stockholm City range of cinema techniques such as colour a television film based on Isaksson’s novel Theatre for the purpose of producing tinting, split screens and the close-up. of the same name. theatrical performances for children and The Blaché couple’s final film,Tarnished youth. She worked there as both stage Reputations, was released in 1920. They director and artistic director until 2014. divorced in 1922, which sadly marked the That same year, Osten was appointed end of Guy-Blaché’s career as a director. Sweden’s first Children’s Film Ambassador by the Swedish Film Institute.

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