Med Blågula Ögon och Slania

Anders Hanser’s wonderful large-format journey from Smygehuk to Kebnekaise, with music by Benny Andersson and guided by Max von Sydow. Sweden has never been more beautiful. “I think we live in such a beautiful country,” says Anders.

I hadn’t seen a film that offered an experience of Sweden’s nature and culture, so I thought I would try to make one. I went through the country province by province and listed what should be included. I also discovered much more along the way. Benny Andersson’s music fits the images so incredibly well, although it was not specially composed, as many people believe. The premiere took place at Dalhalla on 9 July 2004, outdoors on a screen almost 30 metres wide. The audience enjoyed it late into the summer evening. The following year, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs asked Anders to fly to the World Expo in Japan and show a shortened version on the world’s largest screen on Sweden’s national day at the Expo. What recognition! Med Blågula Ögon is still the programme that attracts the most first-time visitors to Hanser’s screenings and moves many deeply. It reminds them of their own lives and places they have visited. Over almost an hour, 600 images are shown, at least a third of which have been added since the premiere in 2004. In total, Anders Hanser spent 160 days taking these photographs. The original version was photographed on 6×17 cm slides, which were digitised. Two years later, Anders felt that digital cameras had become good enough, so he began taking digital photographs, and the entire update was photographed digitally.

Czeslaw Slania was the Mozart of our time in the world of engraving. The film was made to mark the master engraver’s creation of his thousandth postage stamp in 2000, a unique achievement.