Roy Andersson

Director

March 31, 1943 (83 years)

Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden

Biography

Roy Arne Lennart Andersson is a Swedish film director, best known for his distinctive style of absurdist humor and melancholic depictions of human life. His personal style is characterized by long takes, and stiff caricaturing of Swedish culture and grotesque. Over his career Andersson earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival. Andersson spent much of his professional life working on advertisement spots, directing over…

Filmography

6.5

About Endlessness

A reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendor and banality, guided by a Scheherazade-esque narrator. Inconsequential moments have the same significance as historical events. Simultaneously an ode and a lament, presents a kaleidoscope of all that is eternally human, an infinite story of the vulnerability of existence.

7.0

A Swedish Love Story

The puppy love of two teenagers is set against a backdrop of adults struggling with their own lives. As a couple in love, they don't care about anything but themselves and seem totally unaware about everything that surrounds them.

6.0

Cinema 16: European Short Films (U.S. Edition)

A collection of short films by 16 European directors.

6.8

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

An absurdist, surrealistic and shocking pitch-black comedy, which moves freely from nightmare to fantasy to hilariously deadpan humour as it muses on man’s perpetual inhumanity to man.

7.1

You, the Living

In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket, and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.

7.1

Songs from the Second Floor

A monumental traffic jam serves as the backdrop for the lives of the inhabitants of a Swedish city.

4.7

One Morning All Over the World

An ad for an advertising company, consisting of 7-second sequence shots by 13 directors.

6.6

Adalen 31

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

6.0

Cinema 16: European Short Films (European Edition)

A collection of short films by 16 European directors.

7.1

The White Game

Documentary film about the protests against the 1968 Davis Cup tennis match between Sweden and Rhodesia, in Båstad, Sweden. In a series of interviews, demonstrators and members of the Swedish government give their views on sport, politics and civil disobedience.

7.3

Something Has Happened

As the AIDS epidemic was spreading in 1987, the Swedish government commissioned Roy Andersson to make an educational film about the disease. In these twenty or so monotone scenes, Andersson criticizes the medical community for its dehumanizing and racist tendencies when researching HIV and AIDS.

5.5

Giliap

In a minor town the morose manager is primarily responsible for the bad atmosphere of a restaurant. But central for the plot are three persons: a male waiter who is never named (here called W), the female waiter Anna, and "the count", a self-invented nickname by a man cleaning plates. The count is skilled in making others do what he wants. Half a dozen of the personnel assist in a poorly planned and failed attempt to liberate a man whom the police move from one arrest to another. The event involves stealing a motorcycle and threatening policemen with a gun. Anna strongly tries to make contact with W. Finally it turns out that she need his help to break her sexual relation to the count, a relation that from her part is not motivated by positive feelings. W rejects her attempts. And then Anna has suddenly gone. She has got a pleasant job in another town. And then W's feelings awaken.

7.1

World of Glory

The narrative portrays a plain man who guides the viewer through his life in a bleakly stylised world.

10.0

5 x Roy Andersson

PECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Booklet, Box Set, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: World of Glory (1991) Something Happened (1987) A film that attempts to analyse the facts and fictions surrounding the discovery and eventual epidemic of the AIDS virus, Saturday October 5th (1969) A black and white 1960s urban drama about the day a young Swedish man spends with his girlfriend, and anxiety's intrusion upon it. To Fetch a Bike (1968) A moving colour film that in somewhat sketchy scenes describes the morning activities of a tentative young pair of lovers. Visiting One's Son (1967) The storyline is about a son's father (Lars Karlsteen) and mother (Maud Backeus) who come to visit him (Peter Egge) and his girlfriend (Kajsa Wilund) for the first time. ..Roy Andersson Collection (5 Films) - 2-DVD Box Set

5.5

Saturday October 5th

One day, Saturday October 5th, in a man's life.

5.6

Visiting One's Son

A student is visited in his university lodgings by his critical parents.

4.5

To Fetch a Bike

Roy Andersson's short movies focus on working class and youth daily life, capturing and portraying a small slice of his characters' day.

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