Vilgot Sjöman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vilgot Sjöman
Vilgot Sjöman with Lena Nyman during the production of I Am Curious (Yellow) from 1967.
Born	David Harald Vilgot Sjöman (1924-12-02)2 December 1924 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	9 April 2006(2006-04-09) (aged 81) Stockholm, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Occupation	Writer, film director
Years active	1948–2004
Spouse(s)	Kristina Hasselgren ​ (m. 1955⁠–⁠1960)​ Lotta Sjöman ​ (m. 1969)​

David Harald Vilgot Sjöman (2 December 1924 – 9 April 2006) was a Swedish writer and film director. He is best known as the director of the films 491 (1964), I Am Curious (Yellow) (in Swedish, "Jag är nyfiken – gul") (1967), and I Am Curious (Blue) ("Jag är nyfiken – blå") (1968), which stretched the boundaries of acceptability of what could then be shown on film.

Career

Sjöman was born in Stockholm, in a working-class family. His father, Anders W. Sjöman, was a builder; his mother was Mandis Pettersson. Sjöman became a clerk with a cereal company aged 15, but passed his studentexamen in 1945 and studied at the later Stockholm University. He then worked in a prison while writing plays (none of which were produced). One play became his first novel, The Teacher ("Lektorn") (1955), which was filmed in 1952 by Gustaf Molander as Defiance ("Trots").

After taking up a scholarship to study film at UCLA in 1956, Sjöman worked with George Seaton on The Proud and Profane. He returned to Sweden, and wrote a study of Hollywood, In Hollywood ("I Hollywood") in 1961. Sjöman directed his first film in 1962, The Mistress ("Älskarinnan"), with a cast that included regular actors for Ingmar Bergman such as Bibi Andersson and Max von Sydow, showing a young woman in love with two men, one older and the other younger. For her role, Andersson won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival. He assisted Ingmar Bergman with his 1963 film, Winter Light ("Nattvardsgästerna").

His most well-known film, I Am Curious (Yellow), was a political film that examined Swedish society from a critical, leftist viewpoint, portraying a young working-class sociology student, played by Lena Nyman, interviewing people about social classes in Sweden. His 1974 film A Handful of Love won the awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 10th Guldbagge Awards.

He directed his last film in 1995, a biography of Alfred Nobel, inventor, industrialist, and founder of the Nobel Prizes, entitled Alfred.

He died at age 81 from a cerebral haemorrhage in St. Görans Sjukhus in Stockholm, leaving behind his wife of 37 years and three children.

Shortly after his death, a Swedish appeal court upheld a ruling that Swedish television broadcaster TV4 had damaged his and fellow director Claes Eriksson's "artistic integrity" by inserting commercial breaks into broadcasts of their films without their consent. He had been awarded the Ingmar Bergman Prize in 2003 for pursuing this court case.

Filmography

Director

Actor

• I Am Curious (Yellow) (Jag är nyfiken – en film i gult) (1967) - Vilgot Sjöman
• I Am Curious (Blue) (Jag är nyfiken – en film i blått) (1968) - Vilgot Sjöman
• Shame (1968) - TV-intervjuaren
• You're Lying (Ni ljuger) (1969) - Film director (uncredited)
• Till ... Do Us Part (Troll) (1971) - Man (final film role)

See also

In Spanish: Vilgot Sjöman para niños