Strandhugg (The Nitrate Picture Show)

Strandhugg. Image: Filmarkivet.se.

Rantautua / [Hitting the Shore].
Arne Sucksdorff, Sweden 1950
Print source: Svenska Filminstitutet (Swedish Film Institute), Stockholm
Running time: 15 minutes
The Nitrate Picture Show (NPS), George Eastman Museum, Dryden Theatre, Rochester, 3 May 2019.

NPS: About the print: The print displays rich, deep contrast and very little scratches or damage. Shrinkage: 1.05%

About the film: A seaside poem by the Swedish master of short form whose nitrate highlights of past years’ festivals include the unforgettable Symphony of a City and A Divided World. (NPS)

AA: Strandhugg is one of the last of Arne Sucksdorff's cycle of 15 short films made before he directed his first feature-length masterpiece, The Great Adventure. As usual, this is a semi-documentary, and in this case there is a moving central performance of a young fisherwoman who experiences a bitter disappointment with a playboy on the beach. Each shot in this film is a work of art in itself, brilliantly photographed by Sucksdorff.

I watched the film from the projection booth of the Dryden Theatre and was not able to fully appreciate the quality of the print which looked brilliant even from a distance. Because I had never seen Strandhugg before I revisited it online where it is legally available in a handsome digital transfer: Strandhugg at Filmarkivet.se