Bergman-A Year in a Life focuses on 1957, one of the most prolific years for the Swedish director, when he shot two films, opened two of his most celebrated films- The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, produced four plays, a TV movie while juggling with a complicated private life. Magnusson got the idea for the film while doing research for her 2013 documentary Trespassing Bergman, which explored the Swedish legendary director’s legacy. 

"When I started doing research into Bergman’s situation in 1957, I was totally stunned and thought that somebody should do a documentary about this intense year. But then I thought – why not make the film myself?” said Magnusson. Through more than 50 interviews (including with Bergman’s elder brother Dag, Mikael Persbrandt, Liv Ullmann, Roy Andersson), use of archive materials and animation works, Magnusson portrays not only the artist but also the man with his flaws.

The film was produced by Mattias Nohrborg, Cecilia Nessen and Fredrik Heinig for B-Reel, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Institute and Creative Media. SF Studios will release it on Bergman’s centennial, July 14 2018. The Match Factory handles world sales.

Cannes Classics will also celebrate the Ingmar Bergman Centenary with the screenings of a fully digitally-restored 4k version of The Seventh Seal and of Margarethe von Trotta’s new film Searching for Bergman. The Bergman 100 jubilee orchestrated by the Ingmar Bergman Foundation continues until the end of the year, with exhibitions, plays and retrospectives across the globe.

The 71st Cannes Film festival unspools May 8-19, 2018.