A forest of time

1 October 2020 – 7 February 2021

Sune Jonsson’s documentary films

Sune Jonsson produced no less than twenty documentary films between 1964 and 1998, in most cases together with Swedish national public broadcaster SVT, about among other things small holders in Lapland, coastal fishing, ski manufacturing and mountain farmers.

Photographer, film maker, author and field ethnologist Sune Jonsson (1930–2009) was during several decades employed at Västerbottens museum. And it was here he produced the majority of his films. Jonsson most often worked alone in his film making, preferably in black and white with a 16 millimeter camera and separate sound recording, to not influence the environments that was filmed.

Using the films, Jonsson wanted to preserve the knowledge of these traditionally important crafts for posterity. The film medium made it possible to achieve an overall picture of the work process. The long shots reflect the real time dimensions of the work and meticulously depict the various moments. The result is meditative and poetic, but at the same time substantial, a kind of solemn observation that contains great respect for human living conditions and the disappearing landscape in the transformation of society.

Films are in Swedish with no subtitles.