Emil and the Piglet

A born myth-maker and one of Sweden’s most celebrated and accomplished directors of children’s films, Olle Hellbom’s lifelong infatuation with the silver screen began during his own intense childhood.

Born in 1925, by the time he was 20 Hellbom had already travelled all the major cultural powerhouses of inter-war Europe: including months spent studying film in London and a formative visit to the set of David Lean’s haunting 1945 epic Great Expectations.

In the 50´s Hellbom cut his teeth on a series of shorts and commercials, most notably his penetrating, award-winning study of Swedish wood sculptor and folk artist Döderhultaren. It was the 60’s though when Hellbom’s light really began to shine, when, with partner Olle Nordemar, he directed the first version of an Astrid Lindgren story in colour. Although ignored on its initial release as a TV series, when transferred to cinemas in 1960 The Children of Bullerby Village quickly won the hearts of moviegoers all over Sweden.

With The Brothers Lionheart Hellbom’s films took on a new depth and confidence, darkening from the often pastoral idylls of his early work to a new, more complex and painful take on the dangers and fears as well as pleasures of childhood. The film won him a much-deserved “Guldbagge” (Swedish Oscar).

Often underestimated in his own lifetime, Helllbom has been cited as an influence by modern Swedish directors as diverse and influential as Lasse Hallström, Ingvar Skogsberg and Mats Arehn. The winning, deeply unaffected performances he managed to elicit from his young actors remains unparalleled today. —Svensk Filmindustri