Mats Helge, stage name of Mats-Helge Olsson (born 10 May 1953) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

independent

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

, best known for movies such as ''

The Ninja Mission ''The Ninja Mission'' is a 1984 Swedish action film directed by Mats Helge, starring the Polish actors Krzysztof Kolberger and Hanna Bieniuszewicz. All other roles are played by largely unknown Swedish and British actors. Plot summary The story r ...

'' (1984), and he is one of the most productive independent Swedish directors ever, with almost 100 titles to his résumé. He began his career with movies in the 1970s with movies the press called "lingonwesterns". He also directed ''I Död mans spår'' (1975), with

Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt (24 February 1921 – 16 January 1992) was a Swedish comedian and actor. History He grew up in Kungsholmen in Stockholm, where there now is a street named after him. His father was a Social Democratic politician and Ca ...

and a couple of six-shooters, shot in High Chaparral in

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

, Sweden. Then he made ''Tvingad att leva'' (1980) with

Per Oscarsson Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson (28 January 1927 – 31 December 2010) was a Swedish actor. He is best known for his role in the 1966 film ''Hunger'', which earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. Early life Oscarsson was born, alo ...

Lidköping Lidköping () is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had about 40,000 inhabitants in 2021. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidkö ...

, and ''

'' (1984), his most famous and successful film. Then he went on to make a few movies with the American actor

David Carradine David Carradine ( ; born John Arthur Carradine Jr.; December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009) was an American actor, director, and producer, whose career included over 200 major and minor roles in film, television and on stage. He was widely known ...

, and action-movies like '' Blood Tracks'', '' Eagle Island'', '' Spökligan'', '' SilverHawk'', ''The Hired Gun'', '' Animal Protector'', '' The Forgotten Wells'', ''

The Mad Bunch ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', ''

Fatal Secret Fatal is to cause death. It may also refer to: Music * ''Fatal'' (album), by Hussein Fatal, 2002 * "Fatal" (song), a song by Gemn (Kento Nakajima and Tatsuya Kitani), 2024 * "Fatal", a song by Motionless in White from '' Infamous'', 2012 * "Fata ...

'', ''

The Russian Terminator ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', ''Babysitter'' and the short-lived

Robert Aschberg Robert Aschberg (born 19 March 1952 on Kungsholmen, in Stockholm) is a Swedish journalist and media executive. He works for the Swedish television channel TV3. Robert Aschberg was a Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a vari ...

-series '' Nordexpressen''. Due to the

early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incum ...

and royalties from ''The Ninja Mission'' not reaching Mats Helge and his production company he ceased making films in the mid 90's. Several of the people that worked in his studio were absorbed into the main stream Swedish film industry, most notably Anders Nilsson, director of ''

Zero Tolerance A zero-tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, I ...

''. Mats Helge has since the 90's worked as a logistical advisor on foreign film productions and runs a film school. Only five of his films: ''The Ninja Mission'', ''Bloodtracks'', ''Animal Protector'', ''The Mad Bunch'' and ''Fatal Secret'' are officially available on DVD in Sweden, through Njutafilms. Other releases of his films on DVD have been noted by media outlets as unauthorized with Mats Helge not being paid royalties.

References

* *''Regissören som försvann - Historien om The Ninja Mission'', SVT, 13 September 2013.

External links

* * Swedish film directors 1953 births Living people {{Sweden-film-bio-stub