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DAVID STRATTON CURATES BERGMAN PROGRAM AT SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

Announcement posted by Sydney Film Festival 01 Apr 2015

David Stratton will present a program of 10 essential classics directed by the great Ingmar Bergman at Sydney Film Festival in June.
 
The 62nd Sydney Film Festival today announced a special retrospective program of 10 Ingmar Bergman classics curated by David Stratton. The program, entitled Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton, features some of the greatest and most iconic works of cinema ever made, including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander.
 
The renowned critic and broadcaster, who recently retired from co-hosting the long-running At the Movies on the ABC, will introduce each screening in the retrospective program. Stratton was SFF’s Festival Director from 1966 to 1983.
 
Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley says, “Essential Bergman brings to the Festival one of Australia’s great masters of film criticism to curate a selection of films by one of the world’s greatest filmmakers. Bergman’s towering influence on the world of cinema is unquestionable, and his films are indeed essential viewing for film buffs old and new.”
 
“Ingmar Bergman changed my life,” Stratton writes in his introduction to the program. “When I saw Smiles of a Summer Night [in 1957], my concept of cinema altered forever… I found in Bergman’s film aspects of cinema I’d never experienced before – emotion, truth, pain, lust – all presented in the most elegant of wrappings.”
 
Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton will screen weekends during the Festival (3-14 June) at the Art Gallery of NSW.
 
The 10 films in the program are:
 
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Face (1958)
The Virgin Spring (1959)
The Silence (1963)
Persona (1966)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Saraband (2003)

Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton is presented in partnership with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the National Film & Sound Archive (NFSA). The program will screen in Melbourne at ACMI from 11 - 28 June and in Canberra at the Arc Theatre from 25 June to 5 July.
 
Australian Centre for the Moving Image Director & CEO Katrina Sedgwick says, “We’re delighted to be collaborating with Sydney Film Festival and the National Film and Sound Archive. It’s wonderful to have David Stratton’s exceptional eye curating this program of films from one of the world’s greatest auteurs, and to be able to support the tour of stunning 35mm prints that will travel around the country through this partnership.”
 
NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein says, “We're very excited about this partnership with Sydney Film Festival and ACMI. Ingmar Bergman has a very strong following in Canberra, and his fans will be delighted with this retrospective curated by David Stratton. Bergmanites will definitely enjoy this special treat.”
 
A recipient of the Australian Film Institute’s Raymond Longford Award, David Stratton has also served as President of the International Critics Jury for both the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, authored three books and lectured in Film History at the University of Sydney. He co-hosted At the Movies with Margaret Pomeranz for 29 years.
 
Tickets are on sale now for Essential Bergman screenings for $19.50 + booking fee.
A special discount package of all ten films in the retrospective is available for $130 + booking fee.
Flexipasses and subscriptions to Sydney Film Festival 2015 are on sale now.
 
Call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information.
The full Sydney Film Festival program is announced on Wednesday 6 May at 11am. 
David Stratton will present a program of 10 essential classics directed by the great Ingmar Bergman at Sydney Film Festival in June.
 
The 62nd Sydney Film Festival today announced a special retrospective program of 10 Ingmar Bergman classics curated by David Stratton. The program, entitled Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton, features some of the greatest and most iconic works of cinema ever made, including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander.
 
The renowned critic and broadcaster, who recently retired from co-hosting the long-running At the Movies on the ABC, will introduce each screening in the retrospective program. Stratton was SFF’s Festival Director from 1966 to 1983.
 
Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley says, “Essential Bergman brings to the Festival one of Australia’s great masters of film criticism to curate a selection of films by one of the world’s greatest filmmakers. Bergman’s towering influence on the world of cinema is unquestionable, and his films are indeed essential viewing for film buffs old and new.”
 
“Ingmar Bergman changed my life,” Stratton writes in his introduction to the program. “When I saw Smiles of a Summer Night [in 1957], my concept of cinema altered forever… I found in Bergman’s film aspects of cinema I’d never experienced before – emotion, truth, pain, lust – all presented in the most elegant of wrappings.”
 
Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton will screen weekends during the Festival (3-14 June) at the Art Gallery of NSW.
 
The 10 films in the program are:
 
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Face (1958)
The Virgin Spring (1959)
The Silence (1963)
Persona (1966)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Saraband (2003)

Essential Bergman: Selected by David Stratton is presented in partnership with the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and the National Film & Sound Archive (NFSA). The program will screen in Melbourne at ACMI from 11 - 28 June and in Canberra at the Arc Theatre from 25 June to 5 July.
 
Australian Centre for the Moving Image Director & CEO Katrina Sedgwick says, “We’re delighted to be collaborating with Sydney Film Festival and the National Film and Sound Archive. It’s wonderful to have David Stratton’s exceptional eye curating this program of films from one of the world’s greatest auteurs, and to be able to support the tour of stunning 35mm prints that will travel around the country through this partnership.”
 
NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein says, “We're very excited about this partnership with Sydney Film Festival and ACMI. Ingmar Bergman has a very strong following in Canberra, and his fans will be delighted with this retrospective curated by David Stratton. Bergmanites will definitely enjoy this special treat.”
 
A recipient of the Australian Film Institute’s Raymond Longford Award, David Stratton has also served as President of the International Critics Jury for both the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals, authored three books and lectured in Film History at the University of Sydney. He co-hosted At the Movies with Margaret Pomeranz for 29 years.
 
Tickets are on sale now for Essential Bergman screenings for $19.50 + booking fee.
A special discount package of all ten films in the retrospective is available for $130 + booking fee.
Flexipasses and subscriptions to Sydney Film Festival 2015 are on sale now.
 
Call 1300 733 733 or visit sff.org.au for more information.
The full Sydney Film Festival program is announced on Wednesday 6 May at 11am.