Filmmaker Mai Zetterling’s centennial is celebrated across the world

Mai Zetterling, Stockholm 1975. Photo: Leif R Jansson / TT

The month of May is here, and we turn our attention to Mai Zetterling’s 100th birthday on May 24. The visionary filmmaker’s centennial is currently being celebrated with retrospective series and screenings at BFI London and Vancouver Cinematheque and many other film festivals, cinematheques, and film institutes around the world.

Internationally, the centennial year 2025 began in February at the Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona, followed by the Glasgow Film Festival. TIFF Cinematheque in Toronto featured Taboo: Mai Zetterling on Film throughout March as part of its International Women’s Day celebration. In March, the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley launched Swedish Outsider: The Films of Mai Zetterling, which continues through early May. In April, Mai Zetterling: A Rebel by Choice screened at the Timeless Film Festival in Warsaw, and the American Film Institute in Silver Spring is currently running Oh Mai! The Films of Mai Zetterling, continuing through July 3.

The celebration continues throughout May at BFI Southbank in London with Passion and All That Goes With It: The Films of Mai Zetterling, and at the Vancouver Cinematheque with One Hundred Years of Obsession: The Films of Mai Zetterling (June 12–July 1). Additional retrospectives are confirmed later in 2025 at the Norwegian Film Institute in Oslo, Österreichisches Filmmuseum in Vienna and the Cinémathèque Québécoise in Montréal, with more events planned globally.

Individual screenings of Zetterling’s films are coming up with showings at ESTE Film Festival in Sibiu (May 28–June 1) and HK Cine Fan in Hong Kong (May 25–26) and have already taken place at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

– Mai Zetterling was a pioneer in every sense of the word and one of our most important filmmakers. It is truly inspiring to see how her work, both in front of and behind the camera, continues to be celebrated and brought to life in new contexts around the film world – a testament to her lasting impact as a filmmaker, says Anna Croneman, CEO of the Swedish Film Institute.

The Swedish Film Institute, in collaboration with SF Studios and The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, will celebrate Mai Zetterling's centennial with a special tribute at Filmhuset on May 12. Among the invited guests are Mai Zetterling’s son Louis Lemkow Zetterling, actress Stina Ekblad (Fanny and Alexander), director Christina Olofson , and director Niki Lindroth von Bahr, recipient of the Mai Zetterling Grant, who will speak about Zetterling’s lasting impact on the art of cinema.

Mai Zetterling (1925–1994) was a groundbreaking Swedish actress, director, and screenwriter. She rose to fame with her role in Alf Sjöberg’s Torment (Hets, 1944), continuing a successful career both in Sweden and abroad, with appearances in Hollywood and the UK. In the 1960s, she made her feature directorial debut with Loving Couples (Älskande par, 1964), which garnered international attention, notably at the Cannes Film Festival. With works such as Night Games (Nattlek, 1966) and The Girls (Flickorna, 1968), she continued to challenge contemporary norms, and her films gained recognition within global feminist film circles. However, Zetterling resisted labeling her films as “women’s films” – as she put it in the documentary Meeting Mai (Möte med Mai, Jannike Åhlund and Solveig Nordlund, 1996), she sought to “make human films.” In a male-dominated industry, she forged her own cinematic path, directing six features and numerous shorts and television productions. Her work continues to be celebrated for its boldness, originality, and humanist perspective.

Learn more about Mai Zetterling and her work at Nordic Women In Film.

Cinema owners and programmers interested in screening Mai Zetterling’s work can find information on how to book our accessible titles here.

For in-depth guidance on how to program and present Mai Zetterling you can also contact kajsa.hedstrom@filminstitutet.se