Swedish History Movies

In 1943 Malmö, 15-year-old Stig is attracted to his teacher Viola, 22 years his senior, who, drawn to his youth and innocence, believes the lad is a God-sent relief from her miserable marriage to a drunken, unfaithful lout.

Swedish Foreign Ministry bureaucrat Gösta Engzell, overlooked during WWII, rescued thousands while turning supposedly neutral Sweden into a moral force. His efforts challenged the status quo and left a lasting humanitarian legacy.

The Swedish Björn Borg and the American John McEnroe, the best tennis players in the world, maintain a legendary duel during the 1980 Wimbledon tournament.

The film’s story revolves around Karin Stolpe’s complex relationship with her husband Sven Stolpe and her passionate love affair with Olof Lagercrantz which starts in the 1930s. It shows the impact of passion, jealousy and anger across 70 years, involving different generations.

Calcutta, India, August 1948. Teresa, Mother Superior of the convent of the Sisters of Loreto, is anxiously waiting for the letter that will finally allow her to leave her monastery and create her new order in response to the call she has received from God.

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

Set in Cold War in 1961, follows the story of diplomat and economist Dag Hammarskjöld, who boards a plane in a desperate attempt to negotiate a ceasefire from his enemies after he leads UN troops into their first wartime operation.

In autumn 1943, in Gross-Partsch, 26-year-old Rosa, who had come from Berlin to stay with the parents of her husband Gregor, who was fighting on the Russian front, was taken by the SS to a mysterious place. Forced to taste a dish, she joins the group of tasters responsible for checking that the food destined for Hitler is not poisoned.

Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.

Arn has served his term in the Holy land and returns home to be reunited with his beloved Cecilia. When he returns home, he discovers that political forces tries to separate him and Cecilia - but thanks to queen Blanka they can finally get married. Arn knows that war is looming and with his martial knowledge he starts to build an army at his new home at Forsvik.

During World War II, millions of Jews from all over Europe are deported and killed in German concentration camps. When the German troops invade Norway, the Norwegian Jews feel safe and protected. But anti-Semitism knows no borders and as the war escalates in Europe, the situation changes drastically. Suddenly, their radios are taken away; their passports are stamped with a big J and one day, all the men men over the age of 15 are arrested and taken to prisons camps. Many of the women left behind are too frightened to escape and are desperately waiting for their husbands and sons to come back home. On November 26, 1942, hundreds of Jews are picked up by the police in the middle of the night and are transported to the dock in Oslo. Unknowing and frightened men, women, children, sick and old are forced on board the awaiting German cargo ship "SS DONAU". The ship leaves with 532 Norwegian Jews onboard; 302 men, 188 women and 42 children. The end station is Auschwitz.

When Astrid Lindgren was very young something happened that affected her profoundly, and this combination of both miracle and calamity came to shape her entire life. It was an event that transformed her into one of the most inspiring women of our age and the storyteller a whole world would come to love. This is the story of when a young Astrid, despite the expectations of her time and religious upbringing, decided to break free from society's norms and follow her heart.

Sweden, 1849. A poverty-stricken family decides to move to America in the hope of finding a better and more prosperous life. Although they know the journey will be dangerous and the pressure of facing a new life in a strange and wild land is great, they are determined to succeed.

In 1520, the notorious and power-hungry Danish King Christian II is determined to seize the Swedish crown from Sten Sture, no matter what it takes. Meanwhile, sisters Freja and Anne make a solemn promise to seek revenge on the men who brutally murdered their family. Everything comes to a head in the heart of Stockholm, where the sisters are drawn into a ruthless political struggle between Sweden and Denmark that culminates in a mass execution, presided over by the mad King "Christian the Tyrant," known as the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Famous acrobat Elvira Madigan meets Sixten Sparre, a married Swedish officer with two children. They decide to elope, but since Sparre deserted the army, he's unemployable and the couple encounter various hardships.

The year 1957 was one of the most prolific for the Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman: he shot two films, released two of his most celebrated films and produced four plays and a TV movie while juggling with a complicated private life.

Sweden, 1782. Jacob, a young noble, somewhat wild and vehement, returns from his studies in France. After his absence, he returns home happy, but is even happier of meeting his beloved sister Charlotte again. However, she has been promised to the Baron Alsmeden, a man of great influence at court, and this fact will awake a feeling like jealousy in Jacob.

On the eve of June 28th, 2011 Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson put everything at stake by illegally crossing the border from Somalia into Ethiopia. After months of research, planning and failed attempts, they were finally on their way to report on how the ruthless hunt for oil effected the population of the isolated and conflict-ridden Ogaden region. Five days later they lay wounded in the desert sand, shot and captured by the Ethiopian army. But when their initial reportage died, another story began. A story about lawlessness, propaganda and global politics. After a Kafkaesque trial they were sentenced to eleven years in prison for terrorism. And they were far from alone. Their cellmates were journalists, writers and politicians persecuted for not bowing down to dictatorship. Their reportage about oil was transformed into a story about ink, and their daily lives turned into a fight for survival inside the notorious Kality prison in Addis Ababa.

Super-talented footballing prodigy Martin is bought by top club Inter Milan, aged just 16. It’s the chance of a lifetime – but at what price?

A working class teenager comes of age in 1910s rural Sweden, moving through a series of jobs and romances that gradually shape his future.

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) is an important part of art history and one of the first ever painters of abstract art. However, unlike the work of many of her peers at the time hers was misunderstood and neglected until long after her death. This is a story about Hilma and the circumstances which made her paintings possible. The film picks up during her early life and ends today; when her art connects with people of all religions and cultures. Just as she intended.

A personal and captivating account of the extraordinary life and work of Ingrid Bergman (1915-82), a young Swedish woman who became one of the most celebrated actresses in world cinema.

A newly elected village parson is required to marry his predecessor's widow. However, he's already married, and the woman is old enough to be his grandmother.

Palestine, 1948. After the withdrawal of the British occupiers, tensions rise between Arabs and Jews. Meanwhile, Farha, the smart daughter of the mayor of a small village, unaware of the coming tragedy, dreams of going to study in the big city.

In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergman's Video, 2012.)

A film about the gold panning adventures of Hans Söderström, an indigenous Swede. The story stretches from Scandinavia to Africa, via Asia and the Americas, but ultimately boils down to the simple boyish dream of finding gold. Lots of it. And oneself.

This farce cocerns Sweden's King Gustav (Per Oscarsson who plays all the lead roles). The royal monarchs of three major European countries are patiently or not-so-patiently hovering on the sidelines while watching the future King Gustav closely. No single king appears to possess the brains he was born with, so history seems to be made by default, as it were. Gustav does blunder around, but not enough to miss being crowned king. As a result, France, England, and Germany invade Sweden hoping to take by force what they could not gain by incompetence.

Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (currently Zambia), September 18, 1961. Swedish economist and diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the UN, dies mysteriously in a plane crash. Decades later, Danish journalist and filmmaker Mads Brügger and Swedish researcher Göran Björkdahl investigate the case in search of definitive closure.

Karl and Kristina Nilsson work on a farm in a cold and desolate area of 19th century rural Sweden. Growing privations, combined with increasing social and religious persecution, motivate the Nilssons and many of their neighbors to strike out for the United States. Following a treacherous ocean crossing and an equally grueling land passage, the emigrants find themselves in seemingly idyllic Minnesota.

Tumultuous events triggered by the death of a Dutch sugar plantation owner who ends up leaving his Indian Ocean island estate to his young illegitimate son - the child of his Indonesian housemaid.

The documentary tells the life and times of Gustav Mauritz Armfelt (1757-1814) a member of King Gustaf III's court. He had a brilliant career as the head of culture, the royal theatres, and Swedish academy. He quickly raced to the top both politically and militarily. An eccentric and aggressive character. His relationship to Miss Magdalena Rudenschöld remains one of the most passionate in Swedish history. An extraordinary person's portrayal, from a nobody to one of Sweden's most powerful men, in such a short time.

A film about the 1931 Ådalen shootings, in which Swedish military forces opened fire against labour demonstrators in the Swedish sawmill district of Ådalen.

The film portrays the Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter August Strindberg's life 1849-1912. Through his extensive correspondence and literary production, from the supposed first work, the drama "The Free Thinker" (1869), to the posthumously published "The Occult Diary" (published 1977 ). But also his three wives, Siri von Essen, Frida Uhl and Harriet Bosse, and the children Karin, Greta and Hans are given space in the film. The unpublished first drama "The Free Thinker", depicts a young man forced to break with family and tradition to follow his conscience and ideals, becomes a prophecy about the author's own life.

A journey through Swedish queer film history.

When John returns home to his father after serving time in prison, he is looking forward to starting his life afresh. However, in the local community his crime is neither forgotten nor forgiven.

In a time of social change and unrest, war and poverty, a young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery. The decision to keep it alters her whole life.

The story about Swedish ambassador in Chile - Harald Edelstam - and his heroic actions to protect the innocent people from the execution during and after the military coup on September 11th 1973.

A film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition and its impact on the Nordic building-tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future, traditions, nature, concrete, gardens and high-tech, KOCHUU tells us how contemporary Japanese architects strive to unite the ways of modern man with the old philosophies in astounding constructions. Interviews with, and works by, Japanese architects Tadad Ando, Kisho Kurokawa, Toyo Ito and Kazuo Shinohara and Scandinavian architects Sverre Fehn, Kristian Gullichsen and Juhani Pallasmaa.

A Swedish immigrant family struggles to adapt to their new life on the American frontier during the second half of the 19th century amidst civil war, native uprising and the lure of gold in California.

Inspired by real-life Elsa Andersson, this mostly fictional movie tells the story of her upbringing as a farmer's daughter, in the early 1900s, who dreams of getting away from the farm and becoming an aviatrix.