Sven Nykvist

Infobox Actor
name = Sven Nykvist


caption = Sven Nykvist on the cover of his book "Vördnad för ljuset" ("Reverence for the light"). 1997.
birthname = Sven Vilhem Nykvist
birthdate = birth date|1922|12|3
birthplace = Moheda, Kronobergs län, Sweden
deathdate = death date and age|2006|9|20|1922|12|3
deathplace = Stockholm, Sweden
spouse = Ulla Söderlind (1952-1968)
Ulrika Nykvist
yearsactive =
occupation =
academyawards = Best Cinematography
1973 "Cries and Whispers"
1983 "Fanny and Alexander"
baftaawards = Bets Cinematography
1983 "Fanny and Alexander"
cesarawards = Best Cinematography
1975 "Black Moon"
awards = LAFCA Award for Best Cinematography
1982 "Fanny and Alexander"
NSFC Award for Best Cinematography
1972 "Cries and Whispers"

Sven Vilhem Nykvist (3 December 1922 – 20 September 2006) was a two-time Academy Award winning Swedish cinematographer. He worked on over 120 films, but is known especially for his work with director Ingmar Bergman. He won Academy Awards for his work on two Bergman films, "Cries and Whispers" ("Viskningar och rop") in 1973 and "Fanny and Alexander" ("Fanny och Alexander") in 1983, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography for "The Unbearable Lightness of Being".

His work is generally noted for its naturalism and simplicity. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest cinematographers of all time Fact|date=March 2008.

Biography

Nykvist was born in Moheda, Kronobergs län, Sweden. His parents were Lutheran missionaries who spent most of their lives in the Belgian Congo, so Nykvist was raised by relatives in Sweden and saw his parents rarely. His father was a keen amateur photographer of African wildlife, which may have sparked Nykvist's interest in the visual arts.

A talented athlete in his youth, Nykvist's first cinematic effort was to film himself taking a high jump, to improve his jumping technique. After a year at the Municipal School for Photographers in Stockholm, he entered the Swedish film industry at the age of 19.

In 1941, he became an assistant cameraman at Sandrews studio, working on "The Poor Millionaire". He moved to Italy in 1943 to work at the Cinecittà, returning to Sweden two years later. In 1945, aged 23, he became a fully-fledged cinematographer, with his first solo credit on "The Children from Frostmo Mountain".

He worked on many small Swedish films for the next few years, and spent some time with his parents in Africa filming wildlife, footage which was later released as a documentary entitled "In the Footsteps of the Witch Doctor" (also known as "Under the Southern Cross").

Back in Sweden, he began to work with the legendary director Ingmar Bergman in 1953 on "Sawdust and Tinsel" (released in the US as "The Naked Night"). He was one of three cinematographers to work on that movie, the others being Gunnar Fischer and Hilding Bladh.

Nykvist would eventually become Bergman's full-time cinematographer and push the director's work in a new direction, away from the theatrical look of his earlier films. He worked as sole cameraman on Bergman's Oscar-winning films "The Virgin Spring" in 1959 and "Through a Glass Darkly" in 1960. He revolutionised the way we see close-ups in Bergman's "Persona" in 1966.

After working with other Swedish directors, including Alf Sjöberg on "The Judge" (1960) and Mai Zetterling on "Loving Couples" (1964), he then worked in the United States and elsewhere, on: Richard Fleischer's "The Last Run" (1971); Louis Malle's "Black Moon" (1975) and "Pretty Baby" (1978); Roman Polanski's "The Tenant" (1976); Jan Troell's "Hurricane" (1979); Bob Rafelson's version of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1981); "Agnes of God" (1985); Woody Allen's "Another Woman" (1988) and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989); Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin" (1992); Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993); and Lasse Hallström's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993).

Nykvist won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for two of his movies, "Cries and Whispers" (1973), and "Fanny and Alexander" (1982), both of which were Bergman films. He was also nominated for a Cinematograhy Oscar for "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988), and in the category of Best Foreign Language Film for "The Ox" (1991), in which he directed Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann.

He won a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his work on "The Sacrifice" (1986), the last film of the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. He was the first European cinematographer to join the American Society of Cinematographers, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC in 1996. [Some years later Nykvist told in a Swedish television interview about joining the ASC. At first he was surprised over having to qualify for the entrance, but showed up for his interview. One of the first questions to him was, how many full length movies he had shot. He said "seventy", to which the board said, that they understood that there was a language problem; obviously Nykvist had meant "seventeen". No, seventy, seven-oh. Hrm-hrm. Than the board said "It says here, you've been doing some films with Bergman." "Yes, that's seventeen," Nykvist answered...]

He wrote three books, including "Curtain Call" in 1999.

His wife, Ulrika, died in 1982. Nykvist's career was brought to a sudden end in 1998 when he was diagnosed with aphasia, and he died in 2006, aged 83.

He is survived by his son, Carl-Gustaf Nykvist, who directed his first film, "Woman on the Roof", in 1989 and directed a documentary about his father, "Light Keeps Me Company", 1999.

elected filmography

*"Sawdust and Tinsel" (1953)
*"The Virgin Spring" (1960) ("Jungfrukällan")
*"Through a Glass Darkly" (1961) ("Såsom i en spegel")
*"The Silence" (1963) ("Tystnaden")
*"Winter Light" (1963) ("Nattvardsgästerna")
*"Persona" (1966)
*"Shame" (1968) ("Skammen")
*"Hour of the Wolf" (1968) ("Vargtimmen")
*"The Passion of Anna" (1969) ("En Passion")
*"The Touch" (1971) ("Beröringen")
*"Siddhartha" (1972) of the Hermann Hesse novel, directed by Conrad Rooks
*"Cries and Whispers" (1973) ("Viskningar och rop") (won Academy Award for Best Cinematography)
*"Scenes from a Marriage" (1973) ("Scener ur ett äktenskap")
*"The Dove" (1974)
*"The Magic Flute (1975 film)" (1975) ("Trollflöjten")
*"The Serpent's Egg" (1977) ("Das Schlangenei")
*"Autumn Sonata" (1978) ("Höstsonaten")
*"Pretty Baby" (1978)
*"From the Life of the Marionettes" (1980) ("Aus dem Leben der Marionetten")
*"Fanny and Alexander" (1982) ("Fanny och Alexander") (won Academy Award for Best Cinematography)
*"Agnes of God" (1985)
*"The Sacrifice" (1986)
*"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988) (nominated for Academy Award for Best Cinematography)
*"New York Stories" (1989) (segment "Oedipus Wrecks")
*"Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989)
*"The Ox" (1991)
*"Chaplin" (1992)
*"Sleepless in Seattle" (1993)
*"What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993)
*"Celebrity" (1998)

References

*imdb name|id=0005815|name=Sven Nykvist
*tcmdb name|id=142769|name=Sven Nykvist
* [http://www.fathom.com/feature/122159/index.html In-depth interview with Nykvist from 1984 on working with Bergman]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=Y3AGQQGZ3G3E1QFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2006/09/21/db2101.xml Obituary] , "The Daily Telegraph, 20 September 2006
* [http://www.theasc.com/awards/history/pr/10_sven_nykvist.htm ASC biography] (1996)
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/movies/21nykvist.html?ex=1316491200&en=09626932c5efdcda&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss Obituary] , "New York Times", 21 September 2006
* [http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/20/obit.nykvist.ap/index.html CNN-article following Nykvist's death]