The Smith Rafael Film Center welcomes Swedish director Jan Troell, one of the world's greatest filmmakers, to the Bay Area for a residency and screenings of films rarely shown in this country. A master at depicting humanity on screen, Jan Troell frequently tackles historical subjects, but with an appreciation for the common people, their struggles and their relation to nature. In his hands the past is never varnished; it breathes life and truth.
Troell is best known here for the two-film saga he made in the early 1970s, The Emigrants and The New Land, both of which received Academy Award nominations and together constitute a profoundly intimate kind of epic narrative. On the occasion of the Telluride Film Festival's Tribute to Jan Troell in 2008, critic John Simon wrote: Troell's films have such feeling for life and understanding for humankind as to envelop the viewer in a warm friendship with the filmmaker... "

Jan Troell's films are almost completely unavailable in the United States, and these screenings provide a rare opportunity. All films are in 35mm and are original Swedish versions with English subtitles. Several are to be presented by Mr. Troell.

For more information about the program and films being shown, please go to www.cafilm.org.