Acting
Karl and Kristina Nilsson work on a farm in a cold and desolate area of 19th century rural Sweden. Growing privations, combined with increasing social and religious persecution, motivate the Nilssons and many of their neighbors to strike out for the United States. Following a treacherous ocean crossing and an equally grueling land passage, the emigrants find themselves in seemingly idyllic Minnesota.
Inspired by real-life Elsa Andersson, this mostly fictional movie tells the story of her upbringing as a farmer's daughter, in the early 1900s, who dreams of getting away from the farm and becoming an aviatrix.
The Swedish 19th century engineer Salomon August Andrée sets out to become the first man on the north pole. His idea is to launch a polar expedition using a hydrogen balloon, together with two friends. The balloon, "The Eagle", takes off from Svalbard in 1897, but the three men are never heard from again.
A Swedish immigrant family struggles to adapt to their new life on the American frontier during the second half of the 19th century amidst civil war, native uprising and the lure of gold in California.
Sören Mårtensson is a middle school teacher. His classroom occupied by half-grown children. His work is tormenting him and at night he is haunted by nightmares.
Jan Troell portrays the friend and photographer Georg Oddner. For more than half a century, from 1950 arriving in New York, Georg Oddner has lived with his camera.
A lonely teacher muddles through a midlife crisis as he navigates romantic relationships and tries his hand at composing experimental music.
A group of better-off thirty-somethings meet for a weekend in Knud and Beth's home. The host couple is prone to bickering regularly. The married couples (Jan and Ilse, and Kjeld and Tove) that are visiting understand and try to stay out of the way. Bachelor Lars, however, comes into his own and is a constant source of provocative comments.
A documentary view of the Basque ball-game in which a small hard leather ball is hit against a wall. The film gives an impression of the game itself and of those who play it, not only the star performers (and the myths that surround them), but also those who just play in the streets and alleyways. The film sees the game it its cultural context and conveys the emotions and stories that are peculiar to the Basque country.
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Shot months before September 11, "Reflection 2001" captures the Twin Towers as part of the daily rhythm of New York life—vast, immovable, and taken for granted. Re-edited after the attacks, Jan Troell transforms these images into a quiet cinematic requiem, using music and montage alone to mourn what was lost and to contemplate how suddenly the familiar can vanish.
