1.
Kronoberg County
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Kronoberg County is a county or län in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Skåne, Halland, Jönköping, Kalmar and its capital is the city Växjö. For history, geography and culture, see Småland Geographically, Kronoberg County is situated in the part of the province of Småland. It received its present borders in 1687 when Jönköping County was separated, the seat of residence for the Governor or landshövding is Växjö. The Governor is the head of the County Administrative Board or länsstyrelsen, the County Administrative Board is a Government Agency headed by a Governor. The current Governor is Kristina Alsér who took over the office from Lars-Åke Lagrell, the County Council of Kronoberg or Landstinget Kronoberg. Alvesta Lessebo Ljungby Markaryd Tingsryd Uppvidinge Växjö Älmhult Note that all the municipalities have names after their seats except Uppvidinge, the five most populous localities of Kronoberg County in 2010, Kronoberg was formally granted its arms in 1944. However, use of the arms was already an established practice and it is a variation of the arms of Småland. Blazon, Or, a lion rampant Gules langued and armed Azure holding in front paws a Crossbow of the second bowed and stringed Sable with a bolt Argent, standing on a tripple Mount Vert. Kronoberg County Administrative Board Kronoberg County Council Kronoberg Regional Association of Local Authorities The Natural Fishing Fishing in South Eastern Sweden -- tourism page
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Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
3.
Stockholm
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The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
4.
Cinematographer
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The study and practice of this field is referred to as cinematography. The cinematographer selects the camera, film stock, lens, filters, in the infancy of motion pictures, the cinematographer was usually also the director and the person physically handling the camera. As the art form and technology evolved, a separation between director and camera operator began to emerge, with the advent of artificial lighting and faster film stocks, in addition to technological advancements in optics, the technical aspects of cinematography necessitated a specialist in that area. Cinematography was key during the silent movie era, with no sound apart from music and no dialogue, the films depended on lighting, acting. Similar trade associations have been established in other countries too, there are a number of national associations of cinematographers which represent members and which are dedicated to the advancement of cinematography. S. C. Defines cinematography as, A creative and interpretive process that culminates in the authorship of a work of art rather than the simple recording of a physical event. Cinematography is not a subcategory of photography
5.
Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
6.
Ingmar Bergman
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Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer, and producer who worked in film, television, theatre and radio. He directed over sixty films and documentaries for cinematic release and for television and he also directed over 170 plays. From 1953 he forged a creative partnership with his full-time cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Among his company of actors were Harriet and Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin, most of his films were set in Sweden, and numerous films from Through a Glass Darkly onward were filmed on the island of Fårö. His work often dealt with death, illness, faith, betrayal, bleakness and insanity. Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the son of Erik Bergman, a Lutheran minister and later chaplain to the King of Sweden, and Karin and he grew up with his older brother Dag and sister Margareta surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. His father was a parish minister with strict ideas of parenting. Ingmar was locked up in dark closets for infractions, such as wetting the bed, there was everything that ones imagination could desire—angels, saints, dragons, prophets, devils, humans. Although raised in a devout Lutheran household, Bergman later stated that he lost his faith at age eight and only came to terms with this fact while making Winter Light in 1962. His interest in theatre and film began early, At the age of nine, he traded a set of tin soldiers for a magic lantern, a possession that altered the course of his life. Within a year, he had created, by playing with this toy and he fashioned his own scenery, marionettes, and lighting effects and gave puppet productions of Strindberg plays in which he spoke all the parts. Bergman attended Palmgrens School as a teenager and his school years were unhappy, and he remembered them unfavorably in later years. Bergman wrote in a response that he had disliked the emphasis on homework. In 1934, aged 16, he was sent to Germany to spend the vacation with family friends. He attended a Nazi rally in Weimar at which he saw Adolf Hitler, Bergman commented that Hitler was unbelievably charismatic. The Nazism I had seen seemed fun and youthful, Bergman did two five-month stretches of mandatory military service. In 1937 he entered Stockholm University College to study art and literature and he spent most of his time involved in student theatre and became a genuine movie addict. At the same time, a romantic involvement led to a break with his father lasted for years
7.
Cries and Whispers
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Cries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. Cries and Whispers marked a return to traditional Bergman themes such as faith, the psyche. Unlike his previous films, it uses saturated colour, especially crimson, after several unsuccessful experimental films, Cries and Whispers was a critical and commercial success. It received five Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture and it was for the colour and light scheme that the cinematographer and long-time Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist was awarded the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Cries and Whispers takes place in a mansion in the 19th century, filled with red carpets. It depicts the final days of Agnes, who is near death due to cancer and her sisters Maria and Karin have returned to the family home to be with her. However the two women remain distant and awkward, struggling to comfort their sister while dealing with the shock, the deeply religious maid Anna, whose own daughter died at an early age, is the only person in the house able to comfort the dying woman. At length Agnes dies and during her wake the priest declares Agnes faith was stronger than his own. In a dream-like sequence that follows Agnes seemingly returns to life for a moment and asks her sisters one last time for the love. For a moment Karin, Maria and Agnes grow closer to each other, once again only Anna is able to embrace and comfort Agnes. The film is characterized by flashbacks that visit the characters lives and their memories, the last flashback, from the deceased Agnes point of view, is narrated via her diary and shows her sisters descending upon the house clad in white, like angels. The last words are Agnes whispering, Come what may, this is happiness, I cannot wish for anything better. Now, for a few minutes, I can experience perfection, and I feel profoundly grateful to my life, which gives me so much. Bergman then decided to shoot the film in Swedish and not in English, and to finance Cries and Whispers through his own production company, Cinematograph. Although he used personal savings of 750,000 SEK and loans of 200,000 SEK, he also had to ask the Swedish Film Institute for support with the 1.5 million SEK budget, to some criticism. To save costs, the actresses and Nykvist gave their salary as a loan and were nominally co-producers. In his book Images, Bergman wrote, Today I feel that in Persona—and later in Cries, and that in these two instances when working in total freedom, I touched wordless secrets that only the cinema can discover. In an essay with the DVD, the critic Peter Cowie also quotes the director, All of my films can be thought of in terms of black and white, except Cries and Whispers
8.
Fanny and Alexander
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Fanny and Alexander is a Swedish drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 17 December 1982, written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their family in Uppsala, Sweden in the 1900s. The TV version has since released as a complete film. The 312-minute cut, at five hours and 12 minutes, is one of the longest cinematic films in history, Fanny and Alexander is frequently listed among Bergmans greatest works. The story is set during 1907–09, in the Swedish town of Uppsala where Alexander, his sister Fanny and their well-to-do family, the siblings parents are both involved in theater and are happily married until their father, Oscar, suddenly dies from a stroke. Shortly thereafter, their mother, Emilie, marries Edvard Vergérus, the bishop and a widower. The relationship between the bishop and Alexander is especially cold, as Alexander invents stories, for which Edvard punishes him severely, Edvard immediately confines the children to their bedroom. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ekdahl family has begun to worry about their condition, when Emilie secretly visits her former mother-in-law, Helena, to explain what has happened, their friend Isak Jacobi, helps smuggle the children from the house. They live temporarily with Isak and his nephews in their store, Emilie, now in the later stages of her pregnancy, refuses to restore the children to the home. Emilie allows Edvard to drink a large dosage of her bromide sedative and she explains to him, as he shows signs that the medication is working, that she intends to flee the home as he sleeps. He claims that he will follow her family from city to city and ruin their lives, after Emilie gets away, Edvards dying aunt knocks over a gas lamp, setting her bedclothes, nightgown and hair on fire. She runs through the house in flames to seek Edvards help, despite the sedative, he is able to get her off him, but dies shortly thereafter. Alexander had fantasized about his stepfathers death while living with Isak, isaks mysterious nephew, Ismael Retzinsky, explains that fantasy can become true as he dreams it. Alexander encounters the ghost of the bishop who knocks him to the floor, Emilie, having inherited the theatre, hands Helena a copy of August Strindbergs play A Dream Play to read, and tells her that they should perform it together onstage. Initially scoffing at the idea and declaring Strindberg a misogynist, Helena takes to the idea, Bergman intended the film to be his last feature, although he wrote several screenplays afterward and directed a number of TV specials. This most personal of his films was to some extent based on his and his sister Margaretas unhappy childhood under their extremely strict father Erik Bergman. The film simultaneously documents many of Bergmans earlier star actors and an array of prominent Swedish film. Bertil Guve, who gave an acclaimed performance as the boy Alexander, did not choose to pursue acting
9.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1988 American film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, published in 1984. It portrays the moral, political, and psycho-sexual consequences for three bohemian friends, a surgeon, and two artists with whom he has a sexual relationship. Charismatic Czech brain surgeon Tomas, a successful lothario in Communist Czechoslovakia, is pursuing an affair with Sabina. One day, Dr Tomas makes a long distance call to a spa town for a specialized surgery, there, he meets dissatisfied waitress Tereza, who desires intellectual stimulation. She tracks him down in Prague and cohabits with him, complicating Tomass extra-domestic sexual affairs, Tomas asks Sabina to help Tereza find work as a photographer. Tereza is fascinated and jealous as she grasps that Sabina and Tomas are lovers, nevertheless, Tomas marries Tereza, in a simple ceremony with both perpetually laughing, followed by her double standard distress about Tomas promiscuity. Although she considers leaving Tomas, she becomes attached to Tomas when Soviet Army tanks invade Czechoslovakia. Amidst the confusion, Tereza photographs demonstrations against the Soviet forces and victims, facing the stultifying reality that replaced the Prague Spring, Tomas, Sabina and Tereza flee Czechoslovakia for Switzerland, first Sabina, then the hesitant Tomas and Tereza. In Geneva, Sabina meets Franz, a university professor. After some time, he decides to abandon his wife and family for her, after hearing the declaration, Sabina abandons Franz, feeling he would emotionally weigh her down. Meanwhile, Tereza and Tomas attempt to adapt to Switzerland, whose people Tereza finds inhospitable, when she discovers that Tomas continues womanizing, she leaves him and returns to Czechoslovakia. Upset by her leaving, Tomas follows Tereza to Czechoslovakia, where his passport is confiscated, trapping him in-country, nevertheless, the régime demands his signature to a letter repudiating the article, claiming that Tomas article fueled the anti-communist sentiment. Tomas refuses and is presumably black-listed from practising medicine, as a waitress, Tereza meets an engineer who propositions her. Aware of Tomass infidelity, she encounters a one-time and passionless sexual liaison with the engineer, remorseful, she fears the engineer might have been a secret agent for the régime, who might denounce her and Tomas. She contemplates suicide at a bank, by chance Tomas is passing by. Stressed by insubstantial city life, Tereza convinces Tomas to leave Prague for the country, in the village, they live an idyllic life, far from the political intrigues of Prague. In contrast, Sabina has gone to the US, where she continues with the bohemian style of life. Later, Sabina is shocked by the telling of the fate of Tereza
10.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
11.
Missionary
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A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to proselytize and/or perform ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development. The word mission originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem, meaning act of sending or mittere, meaning to send. The word was used in light of its usage, in the Latin translation of the Bible. The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology, a Christian missionary can be defined as one who is to witness across cultures. The Lausanne Congress of 1974, defined the term, related to Christian mission as, Missionaries can be found in many countries around the world. Jesus instructed the apostles to make disciples of all nations and this verse is referred to by Christian missionaries as the Great Commission and inspires missionary work. The New Testament-era missionary outreach of the Christian church from the time of St Paul expanded throughout the Roman Empire and beyond to Persia, in 596, Pope Gregory the Great sent the Gregorian Mission into England. In their turn, Christians from Ireland and from Britain became prominent in converting the inhabitants of central Europe, about the same time, missionaries such as Francis Xavier as well as other Jesuits, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans started moving into Asia and the Far East. The Portuguese sent missions into Africa and these are some of the most well-known missions in history. While some missions accompanied imperialism and oppression, others were relatively peaceful, contemporary Christian missionaries argue that working for justice forms a constitutive part of preaching the Gospel, and observe the principles of inculturation in their missionary work. Over time, the Vatican gradually established a church structure in the mission areas, often starting with special jurisdictions known as apostolic prefectures. The two 9th-century saints Cyril and Methodius had extensive success in central Europe. The Byzantines expanded their work in Ukraine after a mass baptism in Kiev in 988. The Serbian Orthodox Church had its origins in the conversion by Byzantine missionaries of the Serb tribes when they arrived in the Balkans in the 7th century, Orthodox missionaries also worked successfully among the Estonians from the 10th to the 12th centuries, founding the Estonian Orthodox Church. The Russian St. Nicholas of Japan took Eastern Orthodoxy to Japan in the 19th century, the Russian Orthodox Church also sent missionaries to Alaska beginning in the 18th century, including Saint Herman of Alaska, to minister to the Native Americans. Quaker publishers of truth visited Boston and other mid-17th century colonies, the Danish government began the first organized Protestant mission work through its College of Missions, established in 1714. This funded and directed Lutheran missionaries such as Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg in Tranquebar, India and he also got to know a slave from the Danish colony in the West Indies. Within thirty years, Moravian missionaries had become active on every continent, and they are famous for their selfless work, living as slaves among the slaves and together with the Native Americans, the Delaware and Cherokee Indian tribes
12.
Belgian Congo
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The Belgian Congo was a Belgian colony in Central Africa between 1908 and 1960 in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Colonial rule in the Congo began in the late 19th century, King Leopold II of the Belgians persuaded the government to support colonial expansion around the then-largely unexplored Congo Basin. Their ambivalence resulted in Leopolds creating a colony on his own account, with support from a number of Western countries, Leopold achieved international recognition for a personal colony, the Congo Free State, in 1885. Belgian rule in the Congo was based on the trinity of state, missionary. The privileging of Belgian commercial interests meant that large amounts of capital flowed into the Congo, the country was split into nesting, hierarchically organised administrative subdivisions, and run uniformly according to a set native policy. This was in contrast to the British and the French, who favoured the system of indirect rule whereby traditional leaders were retained in positions of authority under colonial oversight. The Congo had a degree of racial segregation. The large numbers of immigrants who moved to the Congo after the end of World War II came from across the social spectrum. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Congo had extensive urbanisation, one of the results was the development of a new middle class of Europeanised African évolués in the cities. By the 1950s the Congo had a labour force twice as large as that in any other African colony. This ended with the seizure of power by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, until the later part of the 19th century, few Europeans had ventured into the Congo basin. The rainforest, swamps and accompanying malaria and other diseases, such as sleeping sickness. After Henry Morton Stanley had explored the region in a journey that ended in 1878, Leopold courted the explorer, Leopold II had been keen to acquire a colony for Belgium even before he ascended to the throne in 1865. The Belgian civil government showed little interest in its monarchs dreams of empire-building, ambitious and stubborn, Leopold decided to pursue the matter on his own account. European rivalry in Central Africa led to tensions, in particular with regard to the largely unclaimed Congo River basin. In November 1884 Otto von Bismarck convened a 14-nation conference to find a resolution to the Congo crisis. The rules recognised the Congo basin as a free-trade zone, but Leopold II emerged triumphant from the Berlin Conference and his single-shareholder philanthropic organization received a large share of territory to be organized as the Congo Free State. The Congo Free State operated as a corporate state privately controlled by Leopold II through a non-governmental organization, the state included the entire area of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo and existed from 1885 to 1908, when the government of Belgium annexed the area
13.
High jump
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The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern most practised format, a bar is placed between two standards with a mat for landing. In the modern era, athletes run towards the bar and use the Fosbury Flop method of jumping, leaping head first with their back to the bar, performed since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly more effective techniques to arrive at the current form. The discipline is, alongside the pole vault, one of two vertical clearance events to feature on the Olympic athletics programme and it is contested at the World Championships in Athletics and IAAF World Indoor Championships, and is a common occurrence at track and field meetings. The high jump was among the first events deemed acceptable for women, Javier Sotomayor is the current mens record holder with a jump of 2.45 m set in 1993 – the longest standing record in the history of the mens high jump. Stefka Kostadinova has held the world record at 2.09 m since 1987. The rules for the jump are set internationally by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Jumpers must take off on one foot, a jump is considered a failure if the bar is dislodged by the action of the jumper whilst jumping or the jumper touches the ground or breaks the plane of the near edge of the bar before clearance. The technique one uses for the jump must be almost flawless in order to have a chance of clearing a high bar, competitors may begin jumping at any height announced by the chief judge, or may pass, at their own discretion. Three consecutive missed jumps, at any height or combination of heights, the victory goes to the jumper who clears the greatest height during the final. If two or more tie for first place, the tie-breakers are, 1) The fewest misses at the height at which the tie occurred. If the event remains tied for first place, the jumpers have a jump-off, the bar is then alternately lowered and raised until only one jumper succeeds at a given height. The first recorded high jump event took place in Scotland in the 19th century, early jumpers used either an elaborate straight-on approach or a scissors technique. In the later years, the bar was approached diagonally, around the turn of the 20th century, techniques began to modernise, starting with the Irish-American Michael Sweeneys Eastern cut-off. By taking off like the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, Sweeney achieved a more economic clearance, another American, George Horine, developed an even more efficient technique, the Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, Horine increased the world standard to 2.01 m in 1912. His technique was predominant through the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in which the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at 2.03 m, American and Soviet jumpers held the playing field for the next four decades, and they pioneered the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their torso around the bar, straddle-jumper Charles Dumas was the first to clear 7 feet, in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to 2.23 m in 1960
14.
Focus puller
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A focus puller, or 1st assistant camera, is a member of a film crew’s camera department whose primary responsibility is to maintain image sharpness on whatever subject or action is being filmed. Pulling focus or rack focusing refers to the act of changing the focus distance setting in correspondence to a moving subject’s physical distance from the focal plane. Additionally, the focus puller may shift focus from one subject to another within the frame, a good focus puller will have an intimate knowledge of cinematographic and optical theory. Depending on the parameters of a shot, there is often very little room for error. One must also consider that an actor may not be able to duplicate his or her best performance in a subsequent take, because of these factors, some production personnel consider the focus puller to have the most difficult job on set. And for configuring the camera and its accessories in multiple ways for different setups, 1st ACs arrive on set or in the studio before the director, director of photography and camera operator, and ensure that the camera and all required lenses are prepared for the days shoot. During shooting, the 1st AC is also responsible for moving the camera to each setup as directed by the Director of Photography, on larger budget productions, the camera is usually mounted on a dolly for most of the day, which is operated by the Dolly Grip. At the end of each shooting day, 1st ACs clean the equipment, if there is a problem with the rushes, the focus puller communicates with the film lab to fix any faults with the camera or film stock. Sharp focus is fundamental to reproducing a realistic, appealing image, when done correctly, good pulling goes mostly unnoticed by the audience. The shooting of a scene begins with a blocking rehearsal. During the rehearsal, the 2nd AC lays tape marks on the floor at all points an actor pauses movement. The actors then leave set to go through hair and makeup, and stand-ins come in to take their places at various positions for the purposes of lighting, framing. These distances are recorded in a series of grease pencil/pen marks on the barrel of the lens. Using the stand-ins or 2nd AC, marks are checked through the viewfinder and/or the onboard monitor for accuracy, marks may be repositioned in order to provide specific framing desired, and the 1st AC must be aware of this and re-measure/re-set his marks accordingly. When the actors return to set, there is usually a rehearsal for camera in which the focus puller and operator will practice the shot and make sure everything has been set up properly. In cases where an obstruction prevents the focus puller from seeing all his marks, traditionally, the focus puller used only his marks and his own well-developed sense of distance estimation to achieve good results. Over the last decade, the use of digital cameras. Professional 1st ACs have many tricks for pulling focus in difficult situations or when accurate measurement is impossible and these reference measurements can be used to quickly establish rough distances between the camera and the subject in chaotic shooting circumstances
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Cinema of Sweden
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Swedish cinema is known for including many acclaimed movies, during the 20th century the industry was the most prominent of Scandinavia. This is largely due to the popularity and prominence of directors Victor Sjöström and Ingmar Bergman, Swedish filmmaking rose to international prominence when Svenska Biografteatern moved from Kristianstad to Lidingö in 1911. Sjöströms most respected films often made use of the Swedish landscape and developed moving studies of character. Stiller fostered the early popularity of Greta Garbo, particularly through the Gösta Berlings saga, in the mid-twenties both of these directors and Garbo moved to the United States to work for MGM, bringing Swedish influence to Hollywood. The departure left a vacuum in Swedish cinema, which went into a financial crisis. Both directors later returned to Sweden, but Stiller died soon after his return while Sjöström returned to work for most of the remainder of his career. Some provincial comedies emerged, created for the local market, during World War II Swedish cinema gained artistically, mainly due to the directors Gustaf Molander, Alf Sjöberg, Hasse Ekman, Anders Henrikson and Hampe Faustman. Cinema had to perform the task of defence during the war. The most famous and influential Swedish filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman, rose to prominence in the fifties and he began making films in the mid-forties, and in 1955, he made Smiles of a Summer Night, which brought him international attention. A year later, he one of his most famous films. In the 1960s, Bergman won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for two years, with The Virgin Spring in 1960 and Through a Glass Darkly in 1961. He won the award again in 1983, for the early twentieth-century family drama Fanny, the film lost to The Sting, and oddly enough, it was not nominated in the Foreign Language Film category. It also gave Bergman the first of three nominations for Best Director, Ingmar Bergman also won no less than four Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Working closely with Bergman, cinematographer Sven Nykvist can be said to have had a impact on the visual aspect of Swedish cinema. Twice the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for Cries and Whispers and Fanny and Alexander and he also directed The Ox, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. After some cutting, it was released in 1964, sjöman went on to cause even wider controversy, depicting sexual intercourse in his 1967 film I Am Curious. In the United States the film was considered pornography and seized by the customs, most probably, it was also instrumental in establishing a view of Swedish cinema – and perhaps even Swedes in general – as having a liberal attitude towards sexuality. Another Swedish postwar filmmaker of note is Bo Widerberg and his 1963 film Ravens End and The Man on the Roof are widely regarded as Swedish film classics
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Sawdust and Tinsel
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Sawdust and Tinsel is a 1953 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman. An aging circus ringmaster visits his wife to see his young sons. Meanwhile, his jealous young lover has an affair with an actor, in 2012 it was voted one of the 25 best Swedish films of all time. The film was shown as part of an Ingmar Bergman Retrospective at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in 2011, Sawdust and Tinsel at the Internet Movie Database Sawdust and Tinsel at the Swedish Film Institute Database Sawdust and Tinsel at Rotten Tomatoes Sawdust and Tinsel at AllMovie
18.
Through a Glass Darkly (film)
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Through a Glass Darkly is a 1961 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and starring Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Lars Passgård. Bergman structured the film as a play, drawing on his personal experiences. The film was his first of several shot on Fårö, through a Glass Darkly was released to positive reviews, including for Anderssons performance, and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is followed by Bergmans thematically related 1963 films Winter Light, Karins husband Martin tells her father, David, that Karins disease is almost incurable. Meanwhile, Minus, Karins 17-year-old brother, tells Karin that he wishes he could have a conversation with his father. David is a novelist suffering writers block who has just returned from a long trip abroad. He announces he will again in a month, though he promised he would stay. The others perform a play for him that Minus has written, David, while feigning approval of the play, takes offense since the play can be interpreted as an attack on his character. That night, after rejecting Martin’s erotic overtures, Karin wakes up and she faints after an episode in which she hears voices behind the peeling wallpaper. She then enters Davids room and looks through his desk and finds his diary, the following morning, David and Martin, while fishing, confront each other over Karin. Martin accuses David of sacrificing his daughter for his art and of being a self-absorbed, callous, cowardly, David is evasive but admits that much of what Martin says is true. David says that he tried to kill himself by driving over a cliff but was saved by a faulty transmission. He says that after that, he discovered that he loves Karin, Minus and Martin, meanwhile, Karin tells Minus about her episodes, and that she is waiting for God to appear behind the wallpaper in the attic. Minus is somewhat sexually frustrated, and Karin teases him, even more so after she discovers that he hides a mens magazine, later, on the beach, when Karin sees that a storm is coming, she runs into a wrecked ship and huddles in fear. Minus goes to her and she seduces her brother, Minus tells the other men about the incident in the ship and Martin calls for an ambulance. Karin asks to speak with her father alone and she confesses her misconduct toward Martin and Minus, saying that a voice told her to act that way and also to search Davids desk. She tells David she would like to remain at the hospital, because she cannot go back, while they are packing to go to the hospital, she runs to the attic where Martin and David observe her actions. She says that God is about to walk out of the closet door and she becomes fixated on a crack in the wall out of which emerges a spider
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The Virgin Spring
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The Virgin Spring is a 1960 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a rape and revenge tale about a fathers merciless response to the rape, the story was adapted by screenwriter Ulla Isaksson from a 13th-century Swedish ballad, Töres döttrar i Wänge. The film contains a number of themes that question morals, vengeance, the film won for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1961 Academy Awards and other honours. It was also the basis for the 1972 exploitation horror film The Last House on the Left, in medieval Sweden, prosperous Christian Per Töre sends his daughter, Karin, to take candles to the church. Karin is accompanied by her pregnant servant Ingeri, who worships the Norse deity Odin. Along their way through the forest on horseback, Ingeri becomes frightened when they come to a stream-side mill, Ingeri encounters a one-eyed man at the stream-side mill. When Ingeri asks about his name he enigmatically responds he has none in these days, the man tells Ingeri that he can see and hear things others can not. When the man makes sexual advances towards her and promises her power, meanwhile, Karin meets three herdsmen, two men and a boy, and invites them to eat her lunch with her. Eventually, the two men rape and murder Karin while Ingeri watches, hidden, from a distance. The two older men then leave the scene with Karins clothing, the younger boy is left with the body and to watch the goats, but he takes the situation poorly and quickly becomes sick with guilt. The herders then, unknowingly, seek shelter at the home of the murdered girl and her parents discover that the goat herders murdered their daughter when the goat herders offer to sell Karins clothes to her mother. After they fall asleep, the locks the trio in the chamber. Ingeri returns to the farm and breaks down in front of Töre and she tells him about the rape and confesses that she secretly wished for Karins death out of jealousy. In a rage, Töre stabs one of the herders to death with a knife before killing the other two with his bare hands. That same day, the set out to find their daughters body with the help of Ingeri. Töre vows that, although he cannot understand why God would allow such a thing to happen, as her parents lift her head from the ground, a spring begins to flow from where she was lying. Ingeri then begins to wash herself with the water and Karins parents clean their daughters muddied face, a variety of themes explored in the film include Christianity, Paganism, Norse mythology, feelings of guilt, vengeance, the questioning of religious faith and sexual innocence. Much of the religious themes centre on conflict between paganism and Christianity, recalling the misery Sweden experienced as the two struggled for predominance
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Close-up
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A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium is a type of shot, which tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the shots used regularly with medium shots. Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene, moving in to a close-up or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming. Most early filmmakers—such as Thomas Edison, Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès—tended not to use close-ups and preferred to frame their subjects in long shots, film historians disagree as to which filmmaker first used a close-up. In 1901, James Williamson, also working in Hove, made perhaps the most extreme close-up of all in The Big Swallow, when his character approaches the camera and appears to swallow it. D. W. Griffith, who pioneered screen cinematographic techniques, for example, one of Griffiths short films, The Lonedale Operator, makes significant use of a close-up of a wrench that a character pretends is a gun. Lillian Gish remarked on Griffiths pioneering use of the close-up, The people in the front office got very upset and they came down and said, The public doesn’t pay for the head or the arms or the shoulders of the actor. Let’s give them their money’s worth. ’ Griffith stood very close to them and said, ‘Can you see my feet. ’ When they said no, he replied, I am using what the eyes can see. Close-ups are used in ways and for many reasons. They are often employed as cutaways from a distant shot to show detail, such as characters emotions. Close cuts to characters faces are used far more often in television than in movies, for a director to deliberately avoid close-ups may create in the audience an emotional distance from the subject matter. Close-ups are used for distinguishing main characters, major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance. Leading characters will have multiple close-ups, there is a long-standing stereotype of insecure actors desiring a close-up at every opportunity and counting the number of close-ups they received. Close-up shots do not show the subject in the context of its surroundings. If overused, they may leave viewers uncertain as to what they are seeing, Close-ups are rarely done with wide-angle lenses, because perspective causes objects in the center of the picture to be unnaturally enlarged. Certain times, different directors will use wide-angle lenses, because they can convey the message of confusion, there are various degrees of close-up depending on how tight the shot is. The terminology varies between countries and even different companies, but in general these are, Medium Close Up, usually covers the subjects head and shoulders. Close Up, A certain feature, such as someones head, extreme Close Up, The shot is so tight that only a detail of the subject, such as someones eyes, can be seen
21.
Persona (1966 film)
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Persona is a 1966 Swedish psychological drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. Persona’s story revolves around a nurse named Alma and her patient, a well-known stage actress named Elisabet Vogler. The two move to a cottage, where Alma cares for and talks to Elisabet about intimate secrets, Bergman wrote the film with Ullmann and Andersson in mind for the lead parts, and some idea of exploring their identities, and shot the film in Stockholm and Fårö. Often categorized as a horror, Persona deals with themes of duality, insanity. In its release, the film was subject to cuts because of its subject matter. It won the award for Best Film at the 4th Guldbagge Awards and was Swedens entry for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Many critics consider it one of the greatest films ever made, the film has influenced many later directors, such as Robert Altman and David Lynch. One of these women is possibly Alma, a nurse who is assigned by a doctor to see a patient. Elisabet is an actress who has suddenly fallen silent and still, although the doctors have determined it is not a result of physical illness or hysteria. While at the hospital, Alma reads Elisabet a letter from her husband and she also becomes distressed seeing TV footage of monk Thích Quảng Đứcs self-immolation in the Vietnam War. The doctor decides Elisabet will recover better in a cottage by the sea, while at the cottage, Alma talks to Elisabet, remarking no one has ever really listened to her before. She speaks about her first affair and her fiancé, Karl-Henrik, one night, she relates how, while in a relationship with Karl-Henrik, she was sunbathing in the nude with a woman she had just met named Katarina, when two young boys came along. Katarina initiated an orgy in which Alma became pregnant, and she had an abortion, Alma drives to town to deliver their letters, but sees Elisabets is unsealed. She reads it, and finds Elisabet has written she is studying Alma and has told of Almas orgy, furious, Alma accuses Elisabet of using her, though she does not know for what purpose. In a resulting brawl, Alma attempts to scald Elisabet with boiling water, but stops when Elisabet cries for her to not to, Alma tells her she knows she is a terrible person, and when Elisabet runs off, Alma chases after her and begs for her forgiveness. Elisabet also sees the Stroop Report photograph of Jews arrested in the Warsaw Ghetto, one night, Alma hears a man outside calling for Elisabet, and finds it is the husband, Mr. Vogler. Mr. Vogler addresses Alma as Elisabet, despite her telling him he is mistaken, Alma meets with Elisabet again, feeling a need to talk about why Elisabet tore the photo of her son. Alma reveals much of Elisabets story, that she wanted the only thing she did not have, to be a mother, Elisabet came to regret the decision, and attempted self-induced abortion, but gave birth to a boy she hates
