Person
Mai Zetterling
Västerås, Västmanlands län, Sweden
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling ( May 24, 1925 – March 17, 1994) was a Swedish actress and film director. She began directing in the early 1960s, starting with political documentaries a…
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Mai Elisabeth Zetterling ( May 24, 1925 – March 17, 1994) was a Swedish actress and film director. She began directing in the early 1960s, starting with political documentaries and a short film called The War Game (1962), which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and won a Silver Lion at Venice. Her first feature film Älskande par (1964, "Loving Couples"), based on the novels of Agnes von Krusenstjerna, was banned at the Cannes Film Festival for its sexual explicitness and nudity. Kenneth Tynan of The Observer later called it "one of the most ambitious debuts since Citizen Kane." It was not the only film she made that would stir up controversy for its frank sexuality (early pioneer on voyeurism). When critics reviewing her debut feature said that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man," she began to explore feminist themes more explicitly in her work. The Girls, which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, discussed women's liberation (or lack thereof) in a society controlled by men, as the protagonists compare their lives to characters in the play Lysistrata, and find that things have not progressed very much for women since ancient times.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2022
Prejudice and Pride: Swedish Film Queer
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2015
Regissören: En film om Mai Zetterling
Movie Self (archival footage)
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1996
Meeting with Mai
Movie
-
1993
Minns ni?
Movie (archive footage)
-
1993
Morfars resa
Movie Elin Fromm
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1992
Love at First Sight
TV show Director
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1992
Sellers' Best
Movie Self
-
1990
Sunday Pursuit
Movie Director
-
1990
Hidden Agenda
Movie Moa
-
1990
The Witches
Movie Helga Eveshim
-
1990
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
Movie Self
-
1990
Chillers
TV show Director
-
1989
Maybe I Really Am a Sorceress
Movie Self
-
1988
Calling the Shots
Movie Self
-
1986
Concrete Grandma
Movie Director
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1986
Amorosa
Movie Director
More credits
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1983
The Hitchhiker
TV show Director
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1982
Scrubbers
Movie Writer
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1982
Love
Movie Writer
-
1981
Of Seals and Men
Movie Director
-
1978
Stulet nyår
Movie Gerda
-
1978
Svenska noveller
TV show Gerda
- 1978
-
1977
My Heart Is Red
Movie Nietzsche
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1977
The Moon Is a Green Cheese
Movie Director
-
1976
We Have Many Names
Movie Lena
-
1973
Visions of Eight
Movie Narrator
-
1972
Vincent the Dutchman
Movie Director
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1971
Film '72
TV show Self
-
1968
The Girls
Movie Director
-
1968
Doctor Glas
Movie Director
-
1967
One Pair of Eyes
TV show
-
1966
Night Games
Movie Writer
-
1965
Lianbron
Movie
-
1964
Loving Couples
Movie Director
-
1963
The Man Who Finally Died
Movie Lisa von Deutsch
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1963
The War Game
Movie Screenplay
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1963
The Bay of St. Michel
Movie
-
1962
The Main Attraction
Movie Gina
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1962
Only Two Can Play
Movie Liz
