Roy Arne Lennart Andersson (born 31 March 1943) is 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 ...

, best known for his distinctive style of absurdist humor and

melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

depictions of human life. His personal style is characterized by long takes, and stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and grotesque. Over his career Andersson earned prizes from the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

and

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

. Andersson spent much of his professional life working on

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

spots, directing over 400 commercials and two

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s; directing six feature-length films in six decades. He made his feature film debut with ''

A Swedish Love Story ''A Swedish Love Story'' (, lit. 'A Love Story') is a 1970 Swedish romantic drama directed by Roy Andersson Roy Arne Lennart Andersson (born 31 March 1943) is a Swedes, Swedish film director, best known for his distinctive style of absurdis ...

'' (1970) followed by '' Giliap'' (1975). Anderson received the

Jury Prize for '' Songs from the Second Floor'' (2000). His film '' A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence'' (2014) won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

. His other notable films include ''

You, the Living ''You, the Living'' () is a 2007 Cinema of Sweden, Swedish Black comedy, black Comedy drama, comedy-drama film written and directed by Roy Andersson. The film is an exploration of the "grandeur of existence", centered on the lives of a group of ind ...

'' (2007), and '' About Endlessness'' (2019).

Early life and education

Roy Arne Lennart Andersson was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden, on 31 March 1943. He studied literature and philosophy at university, then entered 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 ...

Film School in 1967.

Career

1969–1992: Early work

He directed his first feature-length film, ''

'' (1969). The film, awarded four prizes the same year at the

20th Berlin International Film Festival The 20th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, was opened on 26 June 1970 with French-Belgian film '' Klann – grand guignol'' by Patrick Ledoux and scheduled to end on 7 July. However, on 5 July the competit ...

, looked at the nature and nuance of young love and turned out to be a major critical and popular success for Andersson. Following this success, Andersson fell into a depression. As he didn't want to get stuck with the same style and expectations he cancelled what was going to be his next project, with the script half-way finished, and skipped a couple of other ideas for plots he had previously planned to realize. Eventually he directed the film '' Giliap'' which was released in 1975. The film was a financial and critical disaster. After ''Giliap'', Andersson took a 25-year break from film directing, focusing his efforts mainly on his commercial work. In 1981 he established Studio 24, an independent film company and studio located in central

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 ...

. Later, he directed a short-film commissioned by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare entitled ''

Something Happened Something may refer to: Philosophy and language * Something (concept) * "Something", an English indefinite pronoun Music Albums * ''Something'' (Chairlift album), 2012 * ''Something'' (Shirley Bassey album), 1970 * ''Something'' (Shirley Scot ...

.'' Made in 1987, the short was meant to be played at schools all over Sweden as an

educational film An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods. History Determining which films should count as the first educational fil ...

about

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, but was cancelled when it was three-quarters complete because of its overly dark nature and controversial use of sources. The official explanation was that it was "too dark in its message," and it wasn't officially shown until 1993. His next short film, 1991's '' World of Glory'', developed this style even further and was a critical success, winning both the Canal Plus Award and the Press Prize at the 1992

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

Short Film Festival. The film is on a top ten list of all-time best short films, set by the Clermont-Ferrand festival.

1996–present

In March 1996, Andersson began filming '' Songs from the Second Floor'', a film that was completed four years later in May 2000. After its premiere at the

2000 Cannes Film Festival The 53rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2000. French filmmaker Luc Besson was the Jury President for the main competition. Virginie Ledoyen was the mistress of ceremonies. Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier won the ''Palme d'Or'' ...

the film also became an international critical success. It won the Jury Prize in Cannes and five

Guldbagge Awards The Guldbagge Awards (, ) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the name Guldbaggen. The awards, first ...

in Sweden for best film, direction, cinematography, screenplay and sound. The film was made up of forty-six long tableaux shots, marrying tough, bleak social criticism with his characteristic absurdist dead-pan and surrealism. Andersson continued his commercial work at Studio 24 and his next film ''

'' premiered at the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2007. British filmmaker Stephen Frears served as jury president for the main competition. Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or for the drama film ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 ...

as part of the ''

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

'' selection. The film won the

Nordic Council Film Prize The Nordic Council Film Prize is an annual film prize administered by the Nordic Council. The Nordisk Film & TV Fond is the funding body that administers the prize. History The first award was handed out in 2002 to celebrate the Nordic Council's ...

in 2008. The

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City presented a retrospective of Andersson's work in September 2009. He expressed his desire to make a new film that could be considered the third part in a trilogy together with his two latest films, and publicly stated that he was planning "a third enormous, deep and fantastic, humorous and tragic, philosophical, Dostoyevsky film." In an interview with Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Andersson revealed that he would be shooting his next film in

high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ( ...

, possibly using the Red One camera, and that it would represent a departure in style from his previous two films. The film, titled '' A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence'' was released in 2014 and won the

for Best Film in competition at the

71st Venice International Film Festival The 71st annual Venice International Film Festival , was held from 27 August to 6 September 2014, at Venice Lido in Italy. French composer Alexandre Desplat was the jury president for the main competition. Italian actress Luisa Ranieri hoste ...

. The

Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...

in New York City presented a retrospective of Andersson's work entitled ''It's Hard to Be Human: The Cinema of Roy Andersson'' in 2015. In 2019 he released his sixth film '' About Endlessness'' which won the

Silver Lion The Silver Lion (, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film in the official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The prize has been awar ...

at the

. Peter Bradshaw of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' praised the film writing, "

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

is another of Andersson’s superb anthologies of the human condition: people with a zombie-white pallor enclosed in enigmatic tableaux, populating his utterly unique world of unreality and artificiality, scenes of tragicomedy inspired by Tati and

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

and created with masterly model work and green-screen effects in the studio. He shows moments of all too human weakness, weariness, gentleness, bewilderment, despair; there are nauseating visions of war crimes, returning us to the genocidal horror he showed in his 1991 short film ''World of Glory''."

Influences

Andersson has cited

Italian neorealism Italian neorealism (), also known as the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, was a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They p ...

and the Czech New Wave as major influences on his work. He has also cited influences ranging from Spanish painter

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

and the Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel to the Italian director

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

and French absurdist filmmaker

Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted 46th (a list of the top 50 was ...

. In 2012, Andersson participated in the ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

'' film polls of that year. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice. Andersson stated: "All the ten films are excellent and fascinating artistic expressions about what I would call mankind’s both raw and delightful existence. These movies make us wiser." He added "My absolute favourite is ''

Bicycle Thieves ''Bicycle Thieves'' (), also known as ''The Bicycle Thief'', is a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It follows the story of a poor father searching in post-World War II Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which h ...

'', the most humanistic and political film in history. ''

Viridiana ''Viridiana'' () is a 1961 Spanish-Mexican surrealist comedy-drama film directed by Luis Buñuel and produced by Gustavo Alatriste. It is loosely based on the 1895 novel ''Halma'' by Benito Pérez Galdós. The film was the co-winner of the Pa ...

'' is the most intelligent and ''

Hiroshima mon amour (, lit. , ) is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, it was a co-production between France and Japan, and documents a series o ...

'' is the most poetic." His choices are listed below, in alphabetical order: * ''

Amarcord ''Amarcord'' () is a 1973 comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini, a semi-autobiographical tale about Titta, an adolescent boy growing up among an eccentric cast of characters in the village of Borgo San Giuliano (situated near the ancien ...

'' (Italy, 1972) * ''

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev (, ; ) was a Russian artist considered to be one of the greatest medieval Russian painters of Orthodox Christian icons and frescoes. He is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and his feast day is 29 January. Ear ...

'' (Russia, 1966) * '' Ashes and Diamonds'' (Poland, 1958) * ''

Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 epic historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel '' The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Narrated by Michael Hordern, and starring Ryan O'N ...

'' (United States, 1975) * ''

The Battle of Algiers ''The Battle of Algiers'' (; ) is a 1966 Italian-Algerian war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. It is based on action undertaken by rebels during the Algerian War (1954–1962) against the French government in North Africa, the ...

'' (Italy, 1968) * ''

'' (Italy, 1948) * ''

Hiroshima Mon Amour (, lit. , ) is a 1959 romantic drama film directed by French director Alain Resnais and written by French author Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, it was a co-production between France and Japan, and documents a series o ...

'' (France, 1959) * ''

Intolerance Intolerance may refer to: * Hypersensitivity or intolerance, undesirable reactions produced by the immune system * ''Intolerance'' (film), a 1916 film by D. W. Griffith * ''Intolerance'' (album), the first solo album from Grant Hart, formerly ...

'' (United States, 1916) * ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shinobu Hashimoto. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura, it follows various people who describe how a ...

'' (Japan, 1950) * ''

'' (Mexico, 1961)

Awards and honors

Andersson is considered one of the most important living European film directors, having four films officially submitted for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

as Swedish entries. His 2014 film '' A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence'' won the

award at

, making Andersson the only Swedish director and the second Nordic director to win the award in the history of the festival, after Danish

Carl Theodor Dreyer Carl Theodor Dreyer (; 3 February 1889 – 20 March 1968), commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers in history, his movies are noted for emotional austerity ...

won in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

. *2000: " Stig Dagerman Prize" *2000: Jury Prize from

for Songs from the Second Floor *2010: Lenin Award *2014: "

for Best Film" for '' A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence'' (

) *2020: Lifetime Achievement Award (

Odesa International Film Festival The Odesa International Film Festival () is an annual film festival held in the middle of July in Odesa. Since 2016 the festival program has consisted of three parts: the International competition, National competition and European Documentary ...

)

Filmography

Films

Short films

Commercials

Bibliography

* Lyckad nedfrysning av herr Moro (1992) * Vår tids rädsla för allvar (1995) * Fotografier 1960-2003 (2012)

References

External links

*
Interview with Roy Andersson
N by Norwegian
Interview with Roy Andersson
MUBI
Studio 24 & Roy Andersson Production
– official website *
Retrospective Roy Andersson at the FILMFEST MÜNCHEN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Roy 1943 births Living people Best Director Guldbagge Award winners Best Screenplay Guldbagge Award winners Directors of Golden Lion winners Litteris et Artibus recipients Producers who won the Best Film Guldbagge Award Swedish film directors Swedish male screenwriters Swedish screenwriters Venice Best Director Silver Lion winners Writers from Gothenburg