My Life as a Dog

press release:

Sweden | 1985 | 35mm | 101 min. | Swedish with English subtitles

Director: Lasse Hallström

Cast: Anton Glanzelius, Tomas von Brömssen, Anki Liden

Hallström’s adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel by Reidar Jönsson tells the seriocomic adventures of 12 year-old Ingemar, sent to live with relatives in Småland, Sweden after his mother is hospitalized with a terminal illness. Warm-hearted, emotionally rich, and filled to the brim with grace notes for its many characters, My Life as a Dog is directed and performed with an abundance of sensitivity. In particular, Glanzelius, as Ingemar, delivers one of the finest, most lived-in performances by a juvenile actor in the history of cinema. Preceded by the stop-motion animated short Budulinek and the Little Foxes (1950, 10 min.).

Chicago Film Society Presents!

Founded in January 2011 by Becca Hall, Julian Antos, and Kyle Westphal, three Chicago based projectionists and programmers, the Chicago Film Society was created to “to promote the preservation of film in context.” The CFS’s successful regular screening series at Northeastern Illinois University, the Music Box Theatre, and other locations in Chicago, was, according to their mission statement, launched out of a conviction that “films capture the past uniquely. They hold the stories told by feature films, but also the stories of the industries that produced them, the places where they were exhibited, and the people who watched them. We believe that all of this history–not just of film, but of 20th century industry, labor, recreation, and culture–is more intelligible when it’s grounded in unsimulated experience: seeing a film in a theater, with an audience, and projected from film stock.” The CFS has also established a significant and eclectic archive of 35mm and 16mm film prints that we have drawn upon for the purposes of this series tribute to the Society’s cinephilic accomplishments. Our Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen series from September through December will present an international selection of 15 feature films and several shorts from throughout film history, all on 35mm, from the collection of the Chicago Film Society! Additionally, Julian Antos and Becca Hall will appear in person on September 28 at our regular Vilas Hall venue to present a CFS restoration of Hal Hartley’s American indie classic Trust.