When filmmakers Stina Gardell and Frida Neema Järnbert prepared the documentary about Siw Malmkvist, they discovered several meters of private amateur films from the 1960s and 1970s, which were in a pantry at the artist's home.
The material has become a large part of "The Film about Siw", which will have its cinema premiere on September 3.
I got goosebumps. It was completely incredible, says Stina Gardell.
Edited the films
Early in her career, Siw Malmkvist bought a real, expensive film camera and took it with her, almost everywhere. She carefully cataloged the material and even edited her own films, laboriously by hand in a time long before mobile cameras and digital editing tools.
I had a device where I went through "frame by frame" and then I cut with scissors, she explains.
The films had collected dust in the pantry in the apartment, but now they are interspersed with TV clips from the past and fresh interviews with the popular artist. Stina Gardell sees Siw Malmkvist's life story as a parallel to other women's fates in the welfare state – from the children's homes in Borstahusen in Skåne in the 1930s to the present day.
I got a bit of a Forrest Gump feeling – if you remove the diagnosis. Siw was THERE. In everything we've been through, says Stina Gardell.
Was controlled
But the film also tells the story of an artist who, despite all the accolades in Sweden and Germany, suffered from low self-esteem, without control over her own career. Who was told what to do by powerful men in the music industry.
They controlled me when it came to songs and so on. I never dared to say anything and they never asked me if I wanted to do a lyrics, for example, says Siw Malmkvist.
She also had poor control over her finances and recently it emerged that her record contract had not been renegotiated since 1959.
Now it's been resolved. We've settled it. I don't feel like continuing. It's very expensive to deal with lawyers. So I thought, how long will this go on? Now I think it's enough.
Are you satisfied with the settlement?
I'm not allowed to say. But it's resolved now anyway.
Siw Malmkvist will turn 89 on New Year's Eve. Last year, she had a stroke, but she plans to continue performing.
As long as I can sing, there's no reason for me to stop. If I can stand on my legs! And I do my leg exercises, every day, she says and laughs.
Mikael Forsell/TT
Facts: Siw Malmkvist
TT
88 years old. Had her breakthrough in 1959 when she won Melodifestivalen with "Augustin" and became the host of Lennart Hyland's TV program "Stora famnen".
In parallel with having big hits like "Tunna skivor", "Flickor bak i bilen" and "Mamma är lik sin mamma" in Sweden in the 1960s, she also became a big star in Germany – in 1964, she topped the German charts with "Liebenskummer lohnt sich nicht".
On stage, she played Pippi Longstocking in a production in 1980 and had a success in the musical "Nine" in 1983-84.
In 2016, she was inducted into the Swedish Music Hall of Fame.
