Ingmar Bergman: Great Man Dies: His Legend Grows
Today, Ingmar Bergman, one of the great masters of modern films, died at 89 on the Swedish isle of Faro. Film fans like me are sad, down in the dumps sad. I can't recall anyone as influential as was Bergman - maybe Kurasawa.
I'll be watching The Seventh Seal, Winter Light or Autumn Sonata tonight -- to remember. Here are seven facts about Bergman that we should be reminded of on this day.
-Woody Allen considered him to be the best film artist who ever lived.
-Bergman's films were about "the relationship between the sexes, and the relationship between mankind and God."
Hit the jump for 5 more Bergman facts.
- The Seventh Seal, where Death plays chess in Atlantic City, even made it into comedies like Diner.
- Bergman's dad was a minister, and young Ingmar hit the road with dad as he preached.
- His boss once described him as “shabby, rude and scampish with a laugh born out of the darkest depths of the inferno.”
- Three Bergman films won the Oscar for Best Foriegn Language Film. My pick? Fanny and Alexander.
- His longtime cinematographer, Sven Nyqvist, was "the master of light"
who helped to make Bergman's movies haunting and memorable.
Laszlo Kovacs, ASC one of Hollywood's most influential and respected directors of photography, died last Saturday night in his sleep. He was 74.
I would like to request, encourage and promote this network in presenting a Laszlo Kovacs ASC, film retrospective on this network as soon as possible. In the honor of the most influential cinematographers of our time.
Kovacs landmark cinematic achievement "Easy Rider" and compiled 70 credits including "Five Easy Pieces," "Shampoo," "Paper Moon," "New York, New York," "What's Up, Doc," "Ghostbusters," "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "Miss Congeniality." Just to name a few.
The great achievements of Laszlo Kovacs, A.S.C., are not only those of a world-renowned and respected cinematographer, but also those of a man of courage, strength, and determination who overcame great obstacles to achieve his filmmaking dreams.
The Hungary-born cinematographer also carried during his career a remarkable story of courage that occurred 50 years ago during his country's revolution.
Kovacs was born and raised on a farm in Hungary when that country was isolated from the Western world, first by the Nazi occupation and later during the Cold War. Kovacs was in his final year of school in Budapest when a revolt against the Communist regime started on the city streets.
He and his lifelong friend Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC made the daring decision to document the event for its historic significance. To do this, they borrowed film and a camera from their school, hid the camera in a paper bag with a hole for the lens and recorded the conflict.
The pair then embarked on a dangerous journey during which they carried 30,000 feet of documentary film across the border into Austria. They entered the U.S. as political refugees in 1957.
Their historic film was featured in a CBS documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite.
Kovacs was an active member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and in 2002, he received the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, the organization's highest honor.
In 1998, he received two lifetime achievement awards for cinematography: one at the Hawaii International Film Festival and one at CamerImage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, in Torun, Poland.
Kovacs was a member of the ASC's board of directors and demonstrated a deep commitment to education by leading the ASC Education Committee.
Over the past two decades, his films have included "Inside Moves," "Frances," "The Toy," "Crackers," "Ghostbusters," "Mask," "Legal Eagles," "Say Anything," "Shattered," "Radio Flyer," "The Scout," "Free Willy 2," "Copycat," "Multiplicity," "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Jack Frost," and "Return to Me