Ingrid Bergman season at the Filmoteca de Catalunya

Barcelona (CNA).- The Filmoteca de Catalunya, the Catalan Film Archive, presents this September a season celebrating the career of acclaimed Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, born 100 years ago this year. The ‘Ingrid Bergman Centenary’ will include the projection of 17 of her films, including some from her first years in the acting business in her native Sweden, the successful ‘Casablanca’ and her last movie, also Swedish, ‘Höstsonaten’.

 

Remembered as one of the great stars of Hollywood, Bergman once said that she never “sought success in order to get fame and money”. “It’s the talent and the passion that count in success”, the leading actress from Casablanca added.

Born in Sweden on the 29^th of August 1915, she died on the same date in 1982, when she was only 67. Orphaned at age 12, she found comfort in the theatre and cinema industries. However, she rejected the traditional muse image of Hollywood, and captivated the audience and the industry with her natural elegance.

The Ingrid Bergman season in Barcelona’s Filmoteca will kick off on the 1st of September with her last film, Swedish movie ‘Höstsonaten’, from 1978. The season will explore the actress’ 50-year career, and the audience will be able to watch her first work with mentor Gustaf Molander, with whom she shot ‘Intermezzo’. In fact, it was in this movie that US producer David O’ Selznick saw Bergman for the first time, which prompted him to bring her to Hollywood.

The Filmoteca will also show some of her great movies with famous directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Michael Curtiz. Specifically, those who are in Barcelona this September will have the opportunity to watch on the big screen Cukor’s ‘Gaslight’, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Notorious’, and ‘Indiscreet’ by Stanley Donen.

Of course, the season will not forget her short but intense period of work with director and lover Roberto Rossellini. Her work with Rossellini produced seminal movies such as ‘Stromboli’ and ‘Viaggio in Italia’, which are both included in the programme. The season will also show ‘Casablanca’, the classic by Michael Curtis, about which Bergman once said: “I made so many films which were important, but the only one people ever want to talk about is that one with Bogart”. This September in Barcelona they will “play it again, Sam”.