Ullmann to be honoured at Bollywood Oscars

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

08/06/2012 - Norwegian actress-director Liv Ullmann will today (June 8) be honoured at the 13th International Indian Film Academy’s Videocon Weekend in Singapore, aka the Bollywood Oscars, for her work onscreen, for UNICEF in India and for collaborating with Indian filmmakers.

A Love Story: Liv & Ingmar, London-based Indian director Dheeraj Akolkar’s documentary about her 42-year relationship with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman – they met in 1965, were a family for five years, had one child (Linn) and made 12 films together – is the first international film to be screened at the IIFA event.

“A very creative director from India, Akolkar allowed me to see many of the most important times of my life in a new and thought-evoking perspective. In a way it changed some of my own memories," said Ullmann in Singapore, wearing an India-style stole over a long kurta. "I have already become half-Indian in this attire, and will most certainly be a complete Indian within the next few days.”

Written and directed by Akolkar, A Love Story: Liv & Ingmar is filmed in Bergman’s house on the Fårö island, where Ullmann speaks about all aspects of their relationship, which was charged with both love and hatred, and how their feelings for each other were reflected in the films they created together.

Ullmann performed in such award-winning Bergman films as Persona (1966), Shame (1968), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), Face to Face (1976), Autumn Sonata (1978), but turned down the mother’s role in Fanny and Alexander (1986). In 1996, she directed his script for Private Confessions and in 2000 for Faithless.

The other Indian crew for A Love Story: Liv & Ingmar includes editor Tushar Ghogale and sound designer Resul Pookutty. Shot by Norwegian cinematographer Hallvard Bræin and produced by Rune H. Trondsen for Nordic Stories, the film will be theatrically released in Norway on September 28 by SF Norge AS.