An Academy Award winning film studio
- Year: 1947
- Director: Arne Sucksdorff
- Script: Arne Sucksdorff
- Cinematographer: Arne Sucksdorff
In 1949, SF Studios earned the Swedish film industry’s first Oscar when Symphony of a City won for Best Short Film at the 21st Academy Awards.
The award, which was presented in Hollywood during the 21st Academy Awards, is one of the film industry’s greatest accolades, alongside honours from Cannes, Venice and Berlin. Since then, SF Studios has won two more Oscars, both given to Ingmar Bergman in the Best Foreign Film category for The Virgin Spring in 1961 and Through a Glass Darkly in 1962.
"I have found that the ‘Oscar’-nomination is one for the motion picture art humiliating institution and ask you to be released from the attention from the jury for the future."
Bergman’s first Academy Award nomination came a few years earlier, forWild Strawberries(nominated in 1959). Unfortunately, Wild Strawberries didn’t win, which seems to have disappointed Bergman. He tried to decline future nominations from the jury at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
In a letter dated May 12, 1960, Bergman writes: “I have found that the ‘Oscar’-nomination is one for the motion picture art humiliating institution and ask you to be released from the attention from the jury for the future”.
The Academy disregarded Bergman’s request, and instead awarded him the prize for the next two years in a row. On neither occasion did he attend the ceremony. Film distributor Harvey Jr. accepted the award forThe Virgin Spring and Swedish actress Harriet Andersson, who appeared in many of Bergman’s films, accepted for Through a Glass Darkly.