Between Night and Dawn

A burnt child does not shy away from the fire – it is drawn to it. When the world burns and frightens us, culture resists by holding up a mirror to the horrors and stripping the monsters down to their very souls. Bergman Week 2025 will be themed around horror. Under the heading “Between Night and Dawn,” a quote borrowed from Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968), we will explore horror films in general and the horror elements in Bergman’s work in particular.

– Horror films have always been innovative and socially critical. We are witnessing a new wave of horror films flooding cinemas in parallel with news broadcasts becoming increasingly, almost unbelievably, cruel and incomprehensible. We want to highlight this, especially in light of the clear horror themes present in Bergman’s work, says Cristina Bernhardsson Ribeiro, director of the Bergman Center, which organizes Bergman Week every year.

Against the backdrop of Fårö’s bright summer nights, selected horror films will be screened as part of Midnight Mania, in collaboration with the Göteborg Film Festival and Draken Film. The audience will have the chance to watch the horror classic, Hour of the Wolf, in Bergman’s own cinema during the actual “hour of the wolf” and then cycle home across the barren landscape at dawn – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

– We think it’s a great idea to celebrate an alternative Halloween around midsummer, and that the bright summer nights are perfectly suited for a chilling thrill or two, says Jannike Åhlund, chair of the Bergman Center.

Bergman Week 2025 will take place from June 23 to June 27. The full program and pre-sale tickets will be available starting May 9. Information about guests and program highlights will be released gradually via our website and social media.