Sucksdorff, Arne

▪ 2002

      Swedish motion-picture director and cinematographer (b. Feb. 3, 1917, Stockholm, Swed.—d. May 4, 2001, Stockholm), was a noted documentary filmmaker and nature photographer. Sucksdorff studied painting and natural history before becoming a still photographer. He made his first documentary in 1939, and in 1949 his impressionistic study of Stockholm, Människor i stad (1946; “The Rhythm of the City”), won an Academy Award for best short subject. His feature-length films included Det stora äventyret (1953; The Great Adventure), a lyrical story of two boys and a wild otter, which captured the same beauty and love of nature as his nonfiction works. In the early 1950s he directed two films in India. Sucksdorff lived in Brazil for some 30 years, working with children and teaching documentary filmmaking for UNESCO. He made only one film while in Brazil, Mitt hem är Copacabana (1965; My Home Is Copacabana). In the 1990s Sucksdorff returned to Sweden, where he received a lifetime achievement award from the Göteborg Film Festival in 1997.

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▪ Swedish film director and cinematographer

born February 3, 1917, Stockholm, Sweden

died May 4, 2001, Stockholm

      Swedish motion-picture director important in the post-World War II revival of the Swedish cinema because of his internationally acclaimed sensitivity in photographing nature. His patiently photographed flowers, insects, birds, and animals are composed into films in which the rhythm of nature is dominant and man is only one of nature's creatures.

      Sucksdorff studied natural sciences and then turned to painting at the Reihmann Art School in Berlin, but his main interest was photography. After his first short film, Augustirapsodi (1939), won national awards, he was offered a contract by Svensk Filmindustri (1939–53), Sweden's leading studio.

      Sucksdorff's early shorts were marked by the love of nature that had been traditionally characteristic of the finest Swedish silent films. Outstanding among them were: Trut (1944; “The Gull”), an account of a Baltic seabird community with the gull as the villain; Skuggor över snön (1945; “Shadows over the Snow”), about a bear hunt through the forest; Människor i stad (1946; “The Rhythm of the City”), which won the Academy Award for best short subject; En kluven värld (1948; “A Divided World”), set in a Swedish forest on a winter night; Uppbrott (1948; “The Open Road”), a study of the life of the Swedish Gypsy; and Vinden och floden (1950; “The Wind and the River”), filmed in India.

      Sucksdorff wrote, directed, edited, and produced his first feature-length film, Det stora äventyret (1953; The Great Adventure), the story of life on a Swedish farm, using no professional actors. It further enhanced his reputation, as did such later features as En djungelsaga (1957; The Flute and the Arrow), Pojken i trädet (1961; The Boy in the Tree), and Mitt hem är Copacabana (1965; My Home Is Copacabana).

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