“Seeking Bergman Film Rights? Try Aspen”

I just had to post this story from today’s NY Times. I lived in Aspen from 1978–1980 and watched numerous movies for the first time at the Isis Theater. I still remember stepping outside into the cool night air, my head reeling after seeing Apocalypse Now. The other reason is I’ve seen almost all of Ingmar Berman’s movies — Fanny and Alexander is one of my all-time favorites. So the story of how the former owners of the Isis Theater may — or may not — own the rights to all of Bergman’s movies is not only bizarre, it dredges up memories for me:

As plot twists go, this one is a doozy: after an eight-year legal battle over the lease of a movie theater, the former owners of a multiplex in Aspen, Colo., now own the rights to Ingmar Bergman’s entire film library.

Or do they?

In July a Colorado judge transferred all of Svensk’s film rights to Isis Litigation L.L.C. after Svensk refused to pay damages resulting from a renovation of the Isis Theater in the late 1990s. Now, having finished recording its bounty with the United States Copyright Office — and with the documents to prove it — Isis has set out to make some money.

“We never wanted to go into the Swedish film business,” said Jack L. Smith, a Denver lawyer at the firm Holland & Hart who has represented Isis in its legal battle with Svensk since the beginning. “But now we own these films and are in the process of trying to figure out how to market them.”

Truly strange turn of events.

What’s your favorite Bergman movie?

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