The Cinemateket – Svenska Filminstitutet made new negative elements and a viewing print in 2004 from a 35mm sound interpositive held by the Swedish Television (SVT).
Kort möte med familjen Rossellini was made during the shooting of Rossellini’s Viaggio in Italia (1953). The film focuses on Ingrid Bergman and is a kind of cinematic equivalent to an article in a weekly magazine, portraying the famous star and her family. But apart from images of Bergman with her son and the twin daughters being pushed in a pram by their nanny, we do get to see Rossellini and the crew between takes on the island of Capri, and we see the director instructing the actors in a Naples restaurant. The Swedish narrator is at times bewildered by Rossellini’s improvised style of filmmaking.

Legend has it that Bergman was more or less condemned by Swedish society after her decision to move to Italy and work with Rossellini in 1949, as if she let down the Swedish public by giving up her Hollywood career. True, there was a strong feeling against her in those days, and the films she made with Rossellini were not well received by the critics. But this short does prove that she was still idolized in the early 1950’s and that Swedish audiences were eager to get news about her.

Kort möte med familjen Rossellini was screened as an accompanying short before Egil Holmsen’s youth film Marianne, released in September 1953.


Jon Wengström, Cinemateket – Svenska Filminstitutet