A LACMA tribute to director Troell
Clint Eastwood isn’t the only septuagenarian directing remarkable movies. Swedish director Jan Troell, 77, is as active today as he was when he began working as a filmmaker in 1966.
His latest movie, the period drama “Everlasting Moments,” is nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign-language film and is Sweden’s entry in the Oscar sweepstakes. It’s scheduled to open in the U.S. in March
Reached at his home in Sweden, Troell acknowledges it’s a “strange feeling” to realize he’s been making films for more than four decades.
“The fact is all of these years pass so quickly, you can’t believe it,” he says. “When I think backward, it is like it happened not so long ago. I think anyone who has reached my age or a mature age feels the same [as they did years ago]. Years pass so quickly once you are past 30 or 40 and then it just gets quicker and quicker.”
Troell is scheduled to appear Friday at a sneak preview of “Everlasting Moments” on the opening night of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “Spotlight on Jan Troell” festival. (In addition, he will join the directors of the other Golden Globe foreign film nominees for a Saturday afternoon seminar, held by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre.)
Also screening at the LACMA retrospective is his first film, “Here Is Your Life,” which fellow countryman Ingmar Bergman called “one of the most uncompromising masterpieces of Swedish film history,” as well as the original Swedish versions of the films that put him on the international map -- 1971’s “The Emigrants,” released in the U.S. in 1972, and the sequel “The New Land,” which opened here in 1973.
Both films, which revolve around a Swedish immigrant family in Minnesota, earned Golden Globes for best foreign language film. “The Emigrants” was only the third foreign film to earn a best picture Oscar nomination; Troell was nominated for best director.
Set in Sweden in the early 20th century, “Everlasting Moments” is based on the life of Maria, Troell’s wife’s great-aunt. Despite having an abusive husband and seven children, Maria became an accomplished photographer.
The filmmaker’s wife, Agneta Ulfsater Troell, spent six years interviewing Maria’s eldest daughter about her mother.
“She lived until she was 92,” says Troell. “Based on that material, we wrote the script, and at the same time my wife was working on the book [about Maria].”
Their collaboration was a fruitful one. “It was a very good experience,” says Troell, “maybe because we had different responsibilities to the story. We inspired each other.”
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‘Spotlight on Jan Troell’
Where: LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Jan. 16-17
Price: $10
Contact: (323) 857-6010, www.lacma.org
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Golden Globes seminar
Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Price: Free
Contact: (323) 466-3456, www.egyptiantheatre.com
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