Smiles of a Summer Night: Swedish Auteurs

July 11–August 29, 2025

The second installment in BAMPFA’s ongoing Swedish Cinema Project offers a lineup of classic films synonymous with the white nights of Swedish summers and the country’s rich tradition of auteur directors, including Roy Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Gustaf Molander, Alf Sjöberg, and Bo Widerberg.

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  • Ingmar Bergman: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

  • Ingmar Bergman: Persona (1966)

  • Roy Andersson: A Swedish Love Story (1970)

  • Ingmar Bergman: Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

  • Gustaf Molander: Intermezzo (1936)

  • Alf Sjöberg: Miss Julie (1951)

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Upcoming Films

  • Miss Julie

    Alf Sjöberg
    Sweden, 1951

    Digital Restoration

    Friday, July 11 7 PM
    Introduction and Post-Screening Discussion with Arne Lunde

    Celebrated for its unique cinematic style (and censored upon its first release in the United States for its adult content), Alf Sjöberg’s Miss Julie was an important turning point in Scandinavian cinema for its depiction of the battle of the sexes and classes.

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  • Intermezzo

    Gustaf Molander
    Sweden, 1936

    Digital Restoration

    Sunday, July 13 4 PM
    Introduction and Post-Screening Discussion with Arne Lunde

    In the Swedish romantic melodrama that landed her a Hollywood contract, Ingrid Bergman plays a budding pianist swept off her feet by a renowned violinist.

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  • The Count of the Old Town

    Edvin Adolphson, Sigurd Wallén
    Sweden, 1935

    Digital Restoration

    Saturday, July 19 5 PM

    A freewheeling comedy about a gang of ruffians on an all-day bender in Stockholm's Old Town, featuring an eighteen-year-old Ingrid Bergman.

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  • The Sacrifice

    Andrei Tarkovsky
    Sweden, France, 1986

    4K Digital Restoration

    Sunday, July 20 6:30 PM

    A retired actor and his family find themselves on a remote Baltic island when word arrives of nuclear war in Andrei Tarkovsky’s elegiac final film. “An epic vision. . . . Spiritual mastery. . . . A work of genius” (David Robinson, The Times).

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  • Elvira Madigan

    Bo Widerberg
    Sweden, 1967

    35mm Archival Print

    Saturday, July 26 7 PM

    “Elvira Madigan is indeed remarkably beautiful, almost every frame would make a painting, and yet the film is alive and cinematic, not simply photographs of pretty pictures” (Roger Ebert).

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  • Summer with Monika

    Ingmar Bergman
    Sweden, 1953

    Digital Restoration

    Saturday, August 2 7 PM
    Introduced by Linda Haverty Rugg

    Inspired by the earthy eroticism of Harriet Andersson, in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman had a major international breakthrough with this sensual and ultimately ravaging tale of young love.

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  • Smiles of a Summer Night

    Ingmar Bergman
    Sweden, 1955

    Digital Restoration

    Thursday, August 7 7 PM
    Introduced by Linda Haverty Rugg

    Couples meet, split, and reconverge at a country house in the summer of 1900 in Ingmar Bergman’s carnal comedy. “A tragic-comic chase and roundelay [carried] into elegance and lyric poetry” (Pauline Kael).

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  • Through a Glass Darkly

    Ingmar Bergman
    Sweden, 1961

    Digital Restoration

    Wednesday, August 13 7 PM
    Introduced by Linda Haverty Rugg

    Ingmar Bergman’s still-provocative portrait of a young woman sinking into insanity while both family and God fail to save her. Winner of the 1962 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

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  • Persona

    Ingmar Bergman
    Sweden, 1966

    Digital Restoration

    Wednesday, August 20 7 PM
    Introduced by Linda Haverty Rugg

    Exploring the strange symbiosis between a speechless actress (Liv Ullmann) and her nurse companion (Bibi Andersson), this is Ingmar “Bergman at his most brilliant” (Time Out).

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  • A Swedish Love Story

    Roy Andersson
    Sweden, 1970

    35mm Archival Print

    Saturday, August 23 7 PM

    A moped-riding Romeo loves a gum-chewing Juliet in late 1960s Sweden, but dreamless, refrigerator-selling parental figures stand in their way. A wry, Milos Forman–inspired look at youthful hopes and middle-aged sadness.

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  • The Sacrifice

    Andrei Tarkovsky
    Sweden, France, 1986

    4K Digital Restoration

    Friday, August 29 3:30 PM

    A retired actor and his family find themselves on a remote Baltic island when word arrives of nuclear war in Andrei Tarkovsky’s elegiac final film. “An epic vision. . . . Spiritual mastery. . . . A work of genius” (David Robinson, The Times).

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Past Films