Stefan Jarl is a prominent Swedish filmmaker who, over the course of his career, has made more than 40 films. Västergötlands museum has been entrusted with a rich and personal archive from Stefan, a collection that bears the marks of a lifetime dedicated to film. It contains scripts and synopses, letters and texts, press cuttings and posters which, taken together, paint a picture of a long, uncompromising and influential career in Swedish cinema.
Stefan Jarl is perhaps best known as a documentary filmmaker. Yet, in some people’s eyes, he stands out precisely because his work is not particularly ‘documentary’ in nature. The people in his documentaries are sometimes actors. The situations in the film may be composed of several different events filmed at different times. Despite this – or perhaps because of it – several of his documentaries share the common trait of often feeling like a punch in the gut. His work and distinctive style have sparked public debates. It has also led to him being awarded prizes on numerous occasions at international film festivals and by the film industry back home in Sweden.
On Wednesday 3 June, the exhibition The Soul, Damn It! Stefan Jarl and the FIlm Medium opens at Västergötlands museum in Skara. The exhibition traces the filmmaking process through four key stages – pre-production, shooting, editing and distribution – using Jarl’s films as a starting point. Through archive material, interviews and quotes, we gain an insight into both the practical craft and the conceptual worlds that characterise Jarl’s long-standing work. The exhibition shows how his films move between social analysis and existential exploration, from the documentary to the poetic, and how a person’s inner and outer worlds are always intertwined. Here, we get to follow one of the most significant voices in Swedish documentary film and see how a film is actually made.
