Historian-Filmmaker's Dilemma
Historical Documentaries in Sweden
in the Era of Hager & Villius

By David Ludvigsson
December 2003
Uppsala University Press
ISBN: 91-554-5782-7
411 pages, 6 ½" x 9 ½"
$87.50 Paper Original


This is a Ph.D. dissertation. How is history used in historical documentaries? What decisions must the filmmaker take when treating events and processes from the past? This study attempts to answer these questions by discussing a number of documentaries by Swedish historian-filmmakers Olle Hager and Hans Villius. The argument goes that the maker of historical documentaries constantly negotiates between cognitive, moral, and aesthetic demands. Detailed analyses of some fifteen documentaries shed new light on the historical documentary genre and on today's representations of history as such. Particular attention is given to the roles of historians in relation to historical documentaries.

History
Studia Historica Upsaliensia No. 210

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