Thursday 29 December 2011

David Liljemark - "Jakten på Bernhard" Documentary

David Liljemark, the Swedish comic book illustrator, artist, author and musician with The Wonder Boys, has just had his excellent documentary movie Jakten på Bernhard (Traces of Bernhard) released on DVD. First of all here's the official press release: 

"Director and cartoonist David Liljemark tries to make contact with Bernhard Redenstedt, a mysterious 82 year old widower, who has been putting up little hand-written notes all over the streets of Lund for many years. David is deeply fascinated by these strange notes, and gets more and more curious about the lonesome man who writes them. However, Bernhard himself isn't as easy to find as his notes...At the same time as David is chasing him for an interview, Bernhard is threatened to be evicted by the local Council. When the time comes, David turns out to be the only person who is there for Bernhard, and things take a new turn. An unusual documentary about an unusual friendship..."

I thoroughly enjoyed this very moving yet ultimately life-affirming film about an unlikely bond forming between a Film Director and his subject. It is part road-movie, part detective story and part social commentary - a crusade for justice, as Liljemark takes on the ageing Bernhard's battle against the local Council who are trying to evict him. "Jakten på Bernhard" is available on DVD with English subtitles from Amazon. It is released by Silverosa films and produced by the award winning and internationally acclaimed Film-maker Lukas Moodysson.  The DVD has lots of extra features including short films and The Wonder Boys' music videos. A real gem however, is the documentary on Stockholm's very own Harmonica Man, Horst, or Munspelsmannen as he is more commonly known in Sweden. Horst has become a cult figure with a Facebook page dedicated to him and people posting  up various recordings of his performances on You Tube.

David Liljemark has been featured in major newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter and comic books such as Galago and the Swedish edition of Mad Magazine. He has also had a wide range of books published by Optimal Press including "Susanna & Bo", "Ritman Katz" and "Maxine". 

The critically acclaimed "Boltzius" published in 2009, was a superb historical graphic biography about the Faith Healer Fredrik August Boltzius, who was, in fact a distant relative of the author. 

David has also worked with The Soundtrack of Our Lives, illustrating the rare Vinyl/CD "Live with Randy Bachman" release.
  



The extremely rare and collectable 12" Vinyl Picture Disc and Picture CD pack featuring The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Randy Bachman with artwork by David Liljemark.

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