Blushing Charlie
For the 2025 edition of FIKA(S), the festival and the Cinémathèque québécoise present a program dedicated to the Swedish New Wave. It highlights young filmmakers who emerged in the 1960s and, inspired by the French New Wave, sought to revitalize Swedish cinema, which was then dominated by Ingmar Bergman. Themes of transmission, self-affirmation, social struggle, and sexual liberation run through these award-winning films, many of which were praised at international festivals.
Please note that this 35 mm print shows signs of wear,
such as scratches and a slight red tint.
A young trucker lives alone on a boat. One day, a young pregnant woman comes to stay with him. A little later, he finds himself in the middle of a demonstration against American imperialism. These two events turn his lonely life upside down.
Vilgot Sjöman
Vilgot Sjöman was a Swedish filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, and producer. Born into a working-class family in Stockholm, his first film, The Mistress, earned Bibi Andersson the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 1963 Berlin International Film Festival. Sjöman’s films often tackled controversial topics such as social class, morality, and sexual taboos, blending the emotionally tortured characters of Ingmar Bergman with the avant-garde style of the French New Wave. He is best known for 491 (1964), I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967), and I Am Curious (Blue) (1968), which pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable on screen, deliberately treating their subjects in a provocative and explicit manner. In the United States, the distributor of the I Am Curious films released them with the explicit goal of challenging censorship in the country. Throughout his career, Sjöman collaborated with renowned Swedish actors. Later in life, he became an outspoken critic of commercial breaks during the broadcast of films on television. His efforts culminated in a legal battle, for which he was awarded the Ingmar Bergman Prize in 2003.
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