Becoming Astrid
Event Date
July 24, 2019 7:00 pm
Location
Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts
Admission
$10
Pre-film talk with Dr. John Pfeifer begins at 7pm, with the film beginning at approximately 7:30pm.
In Swedish and Danish with English subtitles
Becoming Astrid is a 2018 biographical drama film about the early years of Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, the world’s third most-translated children’s writer, credited for more than 100 books including Pippi Longstocking. Eager to break free from her conservative upbringing, teenaged Astrid Ericsson trades her carefree life working on her family’s farm in rural Sweden for an internship at a local newspaper. At first, it seems like an ideal outlet, not only for her talents, but also for her desire to become a free-thinking, modern adult woman of the 1920s. Her editor and boss, a kind-faced married man, recognizes her talents and seduces her into an illicit relationship. The era’s conventions and patriarchal Swedish law dictate a limited range of options for the young woman who will eventually use her struggles as the foundation for a vast and beloved body of children’s literature.
“The biopic Becoming Astrid is a gorgeous piece of heritage filmmaking that chronicles a character-forming period in the young life of the Swedish writer born as Astrid Ericsson, who would go on to worldwide fame as Astrid Lindgren, one of the most beloved children’s authors ever.†-Variety
“Throughout Becoming Astrid, August acquits herself brilliantly; the woman we come to know is a tangle of impulses and qualities, and feels vibrantly alive.†-Chicago Tribune
Directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen
Starring: Alba August, Trine Dyrholm, Henrik Rafaelsen
Awards: Best Foreign Language Feature at the Chicago International Film Festival
Sweden/Denmark; Not Rated; Directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen (2018); 123 minutes
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