Searching the origin of the Swedish “quality film” : The forgotten film critic Harry Schein and the national institution of art cinema

• Searching the origin of the Swedish “quality film” – The forgotten film critic Harry Schein and the national institution of art cinemaHarry Schein (1924-2006) was one of the most influential Swedish film and media politicians in the late 20th century. Gaining fame as the founder of the Swedish film institute (SFI) in 1963, Schein had also as leading film critic been a pivotal figure in the national film culture in the post-war years. His political work (head of SFI, head of National Investment Bank, etc.) and his frequent interaction with well-known names from the public/political sphere and the cultural field (Ingrid Thulin, Ingmar Bergman, Olof Palme etc.) strengthened his status as a celebrity, while making his achievement as a critic a forgotten part of his CV. As a major advocate of the concept ”quality film” – a central value in the discourse of national art cinema – Scheins criticism of the 1950s is a potential source when studying the official Swedish film politics from 1960 and onwards. This paper will deal with Scheins generally declared views on film criticism, as well as with his writing on contemporary films.Key words: Film criticism, national film politics, quality film, art cinema,References: Bordwell, David, Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema (Cambridge, Mass & London, England: Harvard Univ. Press, 1989) Elsaesser, Thomas, European Cinema: Face to Face With Hollywood (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005) Staiger, Janet, Interpreting Films: Studies in the Reception of American Cinema (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) Transnational Cinema in a Global North: Nordic Cinema in Transition, ed. Andrew Nestingen & Trevor G. Elkington (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005) Vesterlund, Per ” Drömmen om verkligheten – filmkritikern Harry Schein” i Citizen Schein: Texter om och av Harry Schein, ed. Lars Ilshammar, Pelle Snickars & Per Vesterlund (Stockholm: Mediehistoriskt arkiv, Kungliga biblioteket, 2010)

Nyckelord

Film history

Film criticism

Quality film

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