Fantasporto

Favorite Actor of Ingmar Bergman with significant career in  fantasy films

HOMAGE AND CAREER AWARD TO MAX VON SYDOW

Half a century of life dedicated to the film, protagonist in one and a half hundreds of movies, Max von Sydow is on the eve of completing 80 years one of the great faces of the screen. Ingmar Bergmans' favourite actor and the priest in "Exorcist" by Friedkin will be honoured at Fantasporto 2008 with the Career Award. The 28th edition of the International Film Festival of Porto runs in the Theatres Rivoli and Sá da Bandeira, and in ten movie theatres Lusomundo across the country, between February 25th and March 9th.

Born as Carl Adolf in 1929 in the city of Lund, he now has the status of a major star in the hall of fame of the movie world.

He started his career in cinema in 1949, when he was only 20 years old, with "Baar en Mor" by devoted Swedish director Alf Sjoberg, but it was with Ingmar Bergman that his name became an internationally recognized reference. Favorite actor of the so called women filmmaker, with whom he worked in more than ten films, von Sydow was the directors face on the screen, his alter ego, giving body and soul to dense, troubled, lonely and strong characters with memorable interpretations. This cycle with Bergman starts with the masterpiece of the fantastic - "The Seventh Seal". It was followed by "Wild Strawberries" (1957), "Brink of Life" (1958), "The Face" (1958), "The Virgin Spring" (1959), and "Winter Light" (1962). A connection that was reestablished years later with "Hour of the Wolf" (1968), "Shame" (1968), "Passion" (1969) and "The Touch" (1971) among others.

But reducing the vast career of von Sydow to his close collaboration with Bergman would be unfair for his talent.

The amazing interpretation of priest in "The Exorcist" (1973) marks one of the high moments of his career in cinema of terror. The Max von Sydows' priest defies the diabolical forces in a masterpiece of the horror cult by William Friedkin. Together with the performances in "Flash Gordon" (1980) by Mike Hodges and "Dune" (1984) by David Lynch it expresses his great capacity of fantastic in the science fiction.

Max von Sydow has worked with great directors in major films, especially starting from the 60ies when he started the conquest of Hollywood and a more international career. This season highlights such super productions as the George Stevens "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) (where he interprets the figure of Christ), "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966) or "Hawaii" (1966). Other works of his filmography include the political thriller "3 days of the Condor" (1975) by Sidney Pollack, "The Hurricane" (1979) and "Duet for One" (1986). More recently we saw him in "What Dreams May Come", "Minority Report" and "Pelle the conqueror" that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The Career Award is the deserved recognition of Fantasporto to a prodigious actor with an enviable career and ends up also being our tribute to the memory of Ingmar Bergman.