A small but shameless plug for an event I helped organise. Next weekend London’s ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) is showing a four day retrospective of the best Swedish exploitation films from the 1960s and 1970s.

While everyone likes to associate Swedish cinema with Ingmar Bergman, a film like ‘The Language of Love’ would in fact play in three times as many London cinemas as Bergman’s latest in those days. Plus it was Travis Bickle’s idea of a good first date movie in ‘Taxi Driver‘. The London Telegraph has a good slide show about the event and you can find out more on ICA’s homepage:

Sweden has historically been considered an international front-runner in regards to social reforms, health care, sexual equality, freedom of speech and actively working against bigotry and double standards. This has in many ways been reflected in Swedish cinema, most evident in the films from the sexual revolution of the late 60s and early 70s. These films had such an impact that many of us still associate Sweden with skinny dipping, promiscuity and voluptuous blondes, and this weekend of films won’t do much to change that perception.

As a bonus you will get to meet Christina Lindberg herself, the star of ‘Thriller – A Cruel Picture‘, which was Quentin Tarantino’s inspiration for ‘Kill Bill‘. It’s all a reminder of the days when there were still cinemas where an old rain coat was the obligatory dress code. And, yes, that is Stellan Skarsgård in the photo above, before he became big, went to Hollywood and appeared in blockbusters like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.