The Freethinker (1994) Fritänkaren

Director: Peter Watkins
Writers: Hedvig Blidberg, Charlie Kristiansson
Stars: Anders Mattsson, Lena Settervall, Roland Borgström

This is Peter Watkins companion-piece to his highly acclaimed "Edvard Munch" (1974). "The Freethinker" examines the life, art, and times of the noted Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, author of Miss Julie, Inferno, and Dance of Death. Strindberg is depicted as a rebel, and idealistic and controversial iconoclast who openly criticized the hypocrisy of 19th century society." The film broadly focuses on 3 aspects of Strindberg's life- the impact of his childhood on his psychology and future work; the meaning of his relationship with his first wife, and the way in which Strindberg, as an author, created works that confronted the social injustices of their time.

This is a unique, complex and truly collaborative project, which focuses much on Strindberg's often turbulent relationship with his first wife, Siri Von Essen, was based on original and detailed research carried out by Peter Watkins and produced as part of a full length video production course at the Nordens Folkhogskola Biskops-Arno (a film school in Sweden), taking two years to complete (after Wakins had worked for 2 and a half years on research and scriptwriting). The students raised all the funds, sewed all the costumes, learned to operate the equipment and performed all the functions involved in s major theatrical video production.

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