In November 2004, the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge presents "Cries and Whispers: The Cinema of Ingmar Bergman," a 10-film retrospective featuring new 35mm prints. The Harvard Film Archive follows in December with the programme "Ingmar Bergman: Early Works."

Bergman revealed in a newly-published book, Tre Dagböcker [Three Diaries], that he had a secret love child in an extramarital affair in 1959 with a Swedish countess, Ingrid von Rosen, whom he later married. The film director co-authored the book with his newly acknowledged daughter Maria, who did not know she was Bergman's child until she was 22. Read the full story (16 October 2004).

Ingmar Bergman's latest film will be screened at the New York Film Festival in October 2004. Originally shot with digital cameras for Swedish television, it will be released in theatres in high-definition digital format in Paris this December. Check our Saraband page for reviews and links.

The Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon is screening a 16-film retrospective from September through November 2004.

Bergman celebrated his 86th birthday on 14 July with an announcement that he's retiring from the stage. Bergman said his 2002 production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts at Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre was his last. "After Ghosts I decided that this must be it. I do not want them to carry me out of the theatre. I'm leaving by myself," he said in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. "Nobody will need to say, 'Now the old man has to quit.'" Read the full story.

A city-wide retrospective of Bergman films will be presented at four Washington, DC-area locations: The AFI Silver Theatre; the AFI National Film Theater at the Kennedy Center; the National Gallery of Art; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The AFI programme guide is available here. Also, check out the Washington Post's survey of the series, "Scenes From A Film Career" (11 July 2004).

The Film Forum in New York City is presenting a six-week retrospective of Bergman's films through 1 July 2004. Also, check out the The New Yorker's take on the series, "Smorgasbord" by Anthony Lane.

In a rare interview on Swedish television, Bergman said he hates to watch his own movies. "I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry...and miserable. I think it's awful," he said. Read the full Guardian article (10 April 2004).

Keve Hjelm, a Swedish actor, director and academician, died at 81 on 2 February 2004. He starred in more than 20 films, including the role of Bergman's grandfather in The Best Intentions, the 1992 film based on the relationship of Bergman's parents.

Ingrid Thulin, a leading actress in many Bergman films including the classic Wild Strawberries, has died on 7 January 2004 at the age of 77 after battling cancer, hospital officials said. Read the press report as well as Derek Malcolm's obituary in The Guardian and David Thomson's appreciation in The Independent.