Bengt Idestam-Almquist (9 September 1895 – 16 September 1983) was a Swedish

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, critic and film historian. The

Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute () (SFI) is a statutory body located in Stockholm, Sweden that supports the Swedish film industry. Founded in 1963, the institute is responsible for administering the annual Guldbagge Awards, and for managing the Swed ...

calls him the "''father of Swedish film criticism''". At the 3rd Guldbagge Awards he won a Special Achievement award. He was a member of the jury at the 15th Venice International Film Festival in 1954. Idestam-Almquist, who was the son of a Riksvensk father and a Swedish-speaking Finn mother, was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, Finland, and grew up in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russian Empire. He later fled to Sweden with his family during the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

and studied art history in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

. His fascination with film came after watching a silent film with a

benshi were Japanese performers who provided live narrator, narration for silent films (both Japanese films and Western world, Western films). ''Benshi'' are sometimes called or . Role The earliest films available for public display were produced by W ...

while serving the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. He was the first cousin of

Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld (English: ,; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second secretary-general of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in Septe ...

. He was awarded the

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It") is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gusta ...

in 1983.

Selected filmography

* '' A Crime'' (1940) * '' A Real Man'' (1940) * '' The Three of Us'' (1940) * '' Life Goes On'' (1941) * '' The Poor Millionaire'' (1941)

References

External links

* * 1895 births 1983 deaths Swedish male screenwriters Writers from Turku 20th-century Swedish screenwriters 20th-century Swedish male writers Naturalized citizens of Sweden Swedish people of Finnish descent Swedish-speaking Finns Recipients of the Illis quorum Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Sweden {{Sweden-film-bio-stub