The international fame and glory of early Scandinavian cinema are perhaps best exemplified by the innovative work of Victor Sjöström (1879–1960). His illustrious career as a filmmaker and actor spans much of the past century, during which his pioneering inventions in cinematic language took him almost single-handedly from representing the artistic quality of the famed literary film in Sweden to a promising career in Hollywood and then back to Sweden again. In the burgeoning Nordic film industry of the 1910s and 1920s, Sjöström’s originality set a lofty standard, producing some of the silent screen’s most enduring works.
The series is organized for MoMA by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film and Media.
Grateful thanks to The Swedish Film Institute; The Swedish Institute; and Svensk Filmindustri.
The retrospective and its North American tour was organized by Edith Kramer, Director, The Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, with generous support from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
The exhibition is further supported by the Consulate General of Sweden and the Embassy of Sweden, Ottowa. The Swedish Film Institute has restored and preserved many of the prints in the series, and we are grateful to Jon Wengstrom of the SFI and to The Swedish Institute for making the prints available. All prints courtesy The Swedish Film Institute, unless otherwise noted.