Andersson, Roy

Roy Andersson (March 31st, 1943, Gothenburg, Sweden )

Roy Andersson was born on March 31st, 1943 in Gothenburg. In 1969 he received his degree from the Dramatiska Institutet in Stockholm.

He directed his first feature-length film, A Swedish Love Story, the year therafter.

The film was awarded four prizes at the International Film Festival in Berlin 1970. All his films have won major international prizes, among them eight Golden Lions at Cannes.

Roy Andersson has made commercials for companies such as Air France, Lotto, and Citroën.

In 1981 he established Studio 24, an independent film company and studio located in central Stockholm.



“I felt that film-making generally didn't reach the level you could find in painting or literature or music.

It was for one-time use only, and more and more, the movies were losing their visual power - they were concentrating on the plot only.

That's why I started wanting to be a film director myself. It wasn't only the plot that was interesting; it was the touch, the feeling, something visually rich.”

With his film Something has Happend, 1987, Roy Andersson returned to the film festval world. In this and in the later World of Glory, 1991, he developed his personal style of long-take tableau scenes. Both short films won prizes at a number of film festivals.

In March 1996 filming began on Song from the Second Floor. The film was completed in May 2000 and has, from its premiere in Cannes, become an international critical success. It won the Special Jury Price in Cannes 2000 and five Guldbagge awards in Sweden for best film, direction, cinematography, screenplay and sound. Since then Roy Andersson has countinued his work with commercials at Studio 24.

Films:

1967 To Visit One's Son (student film)
1968 To Fetch a Bike (student film)
1968 Saturday, 5 October (student)
1968 Den vita sporten (co-director, documentary - Grupp 13)
1970 A Swedish Love Story
1970 Giliap
1987 Something has Happend
1991 World of Glory
2000 Songs from the Second Floor

(Biography taken from Roy Andersson's website)

2000   Sånger från andra våningen - Songs from the Second Floor (2000)