Arne Edvard Sucksdorff (3 February 1917 – 4 May 2001) was a Swedish

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, considered one of cinema's greatest documentary filmmakers. He was particularly celebrated for his visually poetic and scenic nature documentaries. His works include ''Pojken i trädet'' ('' The Boy in the Tree'') and the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning ''Människor i Stad'' ('' Symphony of a City''). Perhaps Sucksdorff's most widely admired work was the internationally acclaimed '' Det Stora Äventyret (1953)'' (''The Great Adventure'') about a year in the outdoors told in semidocumentary fashion from the viewpoint of a farmboy. It is noted for its remarkable photography and authentic scenes of nature, and its appeal to children for its story of domesticated otters. Sucksdorff also appeared as an actor in this film, portraying the father, while his real-life son is an actor as well. The film won the International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival and the Big Silver Medal (Documentaries and Culture Films) at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival. In the early 1960s, Sucksdorff moved to

Alghero Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...

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, and lived there about 2 years doing spear fishing and exploring the coast with a rubber inflatable Zodiak mark V, after moved to

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, where he taught cinema at the film school and continued making documentaries, as well as the documentary-style drama ''Mitt hem är Copacabana'' ('' My Home Is Copacabana''), which is controversial due to Sucksdorff making up a back story as a street orphan for one of the main actors, a nine year old boy from

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, whose daughter told the real story in a 2019 book. The film was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival and the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. Sucksdorff also won the award for Best Director at the 2nd Guldbagge Awards. At the 29th Guldbagge Awards he won the Creative Achievement award. In later life, he became an outspoken critic of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and a fervent

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. Sucksdorff's last film was the 1971 feature ''Cry of the Penguins'' (also titled '' Mr. Forbush and the Penguins''), starring

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

and Hayley Mills. He died of pneumonia in May 2001 at his birthplace,

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Filmography

Director

*''Skuggor över snön'' (1945, Short) *'' Symphony of a City'' (1947, Short) *''Uppbrott'' (short; 1948) *''Indisk by'' (short; 1951) *'' The Great Adventure'' (1953) - Father *''Vinden och floden'' (1953, Short) *'' The Flute and the Arrow'' (1957) *'' My Home Is Copacabana'' (1965) *'' Mr. Forbush and the Penguins'' (1971) (with Roy Boulting and Alfred Viola)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sucksdorff, Arne 1917 births 2001 deaths Best Director Guldbagge Award winners Deaths from pneumonia in Sweden Artists from Stockholm Swedish film directors