Fårö Document

Brilliantly lensed in color and black-and-white, Fårö Document represents Bergman’s first foray into nonfiction filmmaking. Bergman—who narrates the film and conducts all of the interviews off camera—and cinematographer Sven Nykvist spent forty-five days filming in the spring of 1969. Their original project about the breeding of sheep morphed into a broader portrait of the remote Baltic island of Fårö, its people, and their problems as a rural community in decline. Bergman’s sympathy for and understanding of the islanders is deeply moving. Fårö had by then become Bergman’s refuge and home and the location for a number of his films, including Through a Glass Darkly, Persona, and Shame.