Ingmar Bergman Out of Focus "As a key figure in modernist film, Ingmar Bergman has had a tremendous impact on film cultures worldwide. Interpretations of his work vary from religious redemption to erotic explorations. Existing scholarly work on Bergman focuses almost exclusively on his persona and his oeuvre, disregarding diversity in reception, exhibition, or historical contexts. On the HoMER conference, we would like to present the preliminary results of a workshop we are organizing at the end of April at Örebro University. The goal of this workshop is to explore: what is Bergman's cultural heritage beyond official film history and cultural elites? How do local audiences annex his work in their own (film) cultural environment?How does this differ historically? And how does this compare globally, in different political and socioeconomic contexts?
In line with previous work in the field of New Cinema History, we believe that understanding Ingmar Bergman’s interpretations is also a productive way of understanding how a significant part of film history has been written. Additionally, through a better understanding of these social and geopolitical contexts, we believe we can make a valuable contribution to comparative studies so prevalent in the field of New Cinema History today.