…But Film is My Mistress is an attempt to capture Ingmar Bergman’s extraordinary filmmaker persona based on behind-thescenes footage from eight movies, from Persona in 1965 to Saraband in 2003. The behind-the-scenes footage is part of the collection donated by Ingmar Bergman in 2002. The Ingmar Bergman Foundation Archives was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2007. Guided by Liv Ullmann and with commentaries from a number of prominent filmmakers for whom Bergman is and remains an important influence – such as Woody Allen, Olivier Assayas, Bernardo Bertolucci, Arnaud Desplechin, John Sayles, Martin Scorsese and Lars von Trier, the film provides a vivid portrait of the artist who in each new project found a challenge for himself and for the people he worked with – both actors and colleagues behind the camera. …But Film Is My Mistress aims to give a comprehensive yet unexpected portrayal of Ingmar Bergman the filmmaker. It’s an attempt to paint a vivid picture of an artist at work, that of the committed craftsman driven by curiosity who approached each new project as a challenge – for himself and for the people he worked with.

Stig Björkman

There are certain people you think of that make up the fabric of the art world, of culture, of show business. And they’re just there all the time, you know. Picasso was always there, for a hundred years, an actual hundred years. And so with no Bergman, and no Truffaut, and no Fellini, no Buñuel, and no Kurosawa, you know, they are the ones that really define celluloid, the cameras and the light and all that. They are the ones who defined it as art. All that gift goes, and it’s terrible.

Woody Allen

If you were alive in the 50s and the 60s and of a certain age, a teenager on your way to becoming an adult, and you wanted to make movies, I don’t see how you couldn’t be influenced by Bergman.

Martin Scorsese

When people feel on their guard against Bergman films, saying: “His films are for adults for the upper class.” Never… Never! It scares children. Great! It’s primitive, like the films that were made in 1910, in 1920. You can see he’s been faithful to the silent movie all his life. Later, in the talkies, characters said great things, yes. But the action is pure silent movie stuff, to me, as I watch them.

Arnaud Desplechin