---
name: "Jan Troell"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jan-troell"
roles: ["Cinematographer","Director"]
born: "23 July 1931"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-09-20T05:43:47.427867+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jan Troell

Cinematographer and director. Born 23 July 1931 in Limhamn, Malmö, Sweden.

## Details

- **Work:** Cinematographer, Director
- **Born:** 23 July 1931, Limhamn, Malmö, Sweden
- **Also known as:** 얀 트로엘
- **Berlin International Film Festival:** 2 Berlin prizes (2 won)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Troell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q381876, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0873296/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/27014

## Fi1m on Jan Troell

> Jan Troell holds the camera himself and holds the shot longer than anyone else would, and at his best, in *The Emigrants*, the result is history you feel in your back and your stomach. We rate him highly, and we warn you to clear the evening.

A man heaves a boulder out of a field. Most directors would show the strain, cut to the stone coming free and move on. Jan Troell keeps Max von Sydow in frame for the whole of the effort, and because Troell is holding that camera himself, the frame shifts a little as the man does. That is the habit that runs through everything he has made: he writes, directs, photographs and edits his own films, he operates the camera, he uses whatever light there is, and he holds the shot past the point where anyone else would have cut.

He came to it late and sideways. He was a primary-school teacher in Malmö making short films in the early 1960s, then shot films for Bo Widerberg, then made his first feature, *Here's Your Life* (1966), and followed it with *Who Saw Him Die?* (1968). The films that made his name were *The Emigrants* (1971) and *The New Land* (1972), adapted with his producer Bengt Forslund from Vilhelm Moberg's novels about Småland peasants leaving for Minnesota, and best watched as one work across two evenings. Hollywood followed, with *Zandy's Bride* (1974) and *Hurricane* (1979), and he went home. Since then he has made historical dramas, literary adaptations and documentaries in Sweden, among them *Everlasting Moments* (2008), about a family and a camera, and *The Last Sentence* (2012), about a journalist, and he kept working into his nineties.

What works is the patience. His people are farmers, servants and newspapermen; nobody makes a speech, and the ideas arrive through hands mending a plough and a child's face at the table. "I don't move the camera unnecessarily, usually," he has said. "As a photographer, composition is in my backbone, in a way." Von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, who worked with him repeatedly, understood what he wanted: in *The Emigrants* they carry three hours without once raising their voices. The hold of the emigrant ship in that film is the sequence we would show anyone who doubts him. He takes a hand-held camera and a few lamps down among the bunks and stays there, through lice and buckets and a storm heard through planks, until we found ourselves lying still with the passengers, wanting land as badly as they did.

What does not work is the same thing seen from the other side. The method makes long films, and *The Emigrants* runs 191 minutes before anyone sets foot on the land they crossed an ocean for. If you want incident, he will make you wait for it, and he will not apologise. We have not reviewed the two Hollywood films; the consensus is that they are not the place to start, and we see no reason to argue.

He is listed here as a cinematographer, which is fair, since he has said he feels like one. It is also the least of what he does on a set. Begin with *The Emigrants*, keep the following evening for *The New Land*, and do not look at the clock.

## Biography

Jan Troell is a Swedish filmmaker, screenwriter and cinematographer. Born on 23 July 1931 in Limhamn, Malmö, he worked for several years as an elementary-school teacher before making short films in the 1960s.

His first feature, *Here's Your Life* (1966), was followed by *Who Saw Him Die?* (1968). Troell directed, co-wrote the screenplay, served as cinematographer and edited *The Emigrants* (1971) and its sequel *The New Land* (1972). Later films include *Everlasting Moments* (2008).

He won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for *Who Saw Him Die?*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Emigrants* (1971), Fi1m 85, Screenplay, Editor, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-emigrants.md)

## Complete filmography (57)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Once Upon a Time There Was a Now* (2025), Director
- *Vid diktens port* (2016), Director
- *Vem var du Axel Ebbe?* (2016), Director
- *Bo Widerberg regisserar* (2015), Camera Operator
- *The Last Sentence* (2012), Screenplay, Director, Editor
- *Room 1112* (2012), Actor
- *Peeping Tom* (2011), Director, Director of Photography, Editor
- *By My Own Measure – A Desert Journey* (2010), Director, Writer
- *Troell Behind the Camera* (2009), Actor
- *Everlasting Moments* (2008), Director, Director of Photography, Story, Editor
- *Tune* (2007), Director, Director of Photography, Editor
- *Snigeln* (2006), Director, Director of Photography, Editor
- *Love 60+* (2005), Director, Director of Photography, Editor
- *Det gula märket* (2004), Director, Writer, Director of Photography
- *Visions of Europe* (2004), Director, Writer, Director of Photography
- *Johanna! Yohanna!* (2003), Cinematography, Thanks
- *Presence* (2003), Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Sound, Editor
- *Reflection 2001* (2002), Director
- *As White as in Snow* (2001), Director, Director of Photography, Editor, Screenplay
- *92.8 MHz – Dreams in the South* (2000), Director, Writer
- *Their Frozen Dream* (1997), Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography
- *...och barnen i äppelträdet: en film om åldrande* (1997), Director, Cinematography, Editor
- *Hamsun* (1996), Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Editor
- *Dansen* (1994), Director, Writer
- *Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem* (1991), Screenplay, Director, Director of Photography, Editor, Executive Producer
- *Land of Dreams* (1988), Writer, Editor, Director, Director of Photography
- *The Flight of the Eagle* (1982), Director, Director of Photography, Editor, Screenplay
- *Hurricane* (1979), Director
- *Det hender ikke meg* (1979), Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
- *Bang!* (1977), Director, Editor, Writer, Director of Photography
- *Nålsögat: En film om möjligheter* (1975), Director, Editor, Director of Photography, Writer
- *The Emigrants* (1974), series, Director, Director of Photography, Writer, Creator
- *Zandy's Bride* (1974), Director
- *Gamen* (1973), Director, Cinematography
- *Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken: Valsen* (1972), Director of Photography, Director
- *Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken: Höstacken* (1972), Director, Director of Photography
- *Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken: Frieriet* (1972), Director, Director of Photography
- *The New Land* (1972), Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography, Editor
- *The Emigrants* (1971), Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography, Editor — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-emigrants.md)
- *Who Saw Him Die?* (1968), Director, Director of Photography, Editor, Writer
- *Here Is Your Life* (1966), Director of Photography, Director, Editor, Screenplay
- *Vår i dalby hage* (1965), Director, Producer, Director of Photography, Screenplay
- *4 x 4* (1965), Editor, Director of Photography, Writer, Director
- *Interlude in the Marshland* (1965), Writer, Director, Editor, Director of Photography
- *Portrait of Åsa* (1965), Editor, Writer, Director of Photography, Director
- *Den gamla kvarnen* (1964), Director, Editor, Screenplay, Director of Photography
- *Johan Ekberg: A report about the worries and joys of old age* (1964), Director
- *Trakom* (1964), Director of Photography, Screenplay, Director, Editor
- *The Baby Carriage* (1963), Director of Photography
- *Dreams and Visions By the Sea* (1963), Editor, Director of Photography, Screenplay, Director
- *De kom tillbaka* (1962), Director
- *Båten* (1962), Director, Screenplay, Director of Photography, Producer, Editor
- *The Boy and the Kite* (1962), Editor, Director of Photography, Director, Writer
- *One More Brother* (1962), Editor, Director of Photography, Director
- *Nyårsafton på skånska slätten* (1961), Director, Screenplay, Editor, Director of Photography
- *Summer Day* (1961), Director, Writer, Producer, Director of Photography, Editor
- *City* (1958), Writer, Director

## Gallery

- ![Jan Troell](https://film.one/media/person/1244790/gallery-d407c691e223.jpg) Jan Troell — Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Jan_Troell.jpg/1280px-Jan_Troell.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![The Swedish film director Jan Troell receiving the Kulturhammaren award at Grand Hotel in Lund, Sweden. (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/1244790/gallery-bfa409e7abba.jpg) The Swedish film director Jan Troell receiving the Kulturhammaren award at Grand Hotel in Lund, Sweden. (2009) — Håkan Henriksson (Narking), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Jan-troell-2009-05-22.jpg/1280px-Jan-troell-2009-05-22.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jan Troell](https://film.one/media/person/1244790/gallery-7509e5dba163.jpg) Jan Troell — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1973: Best Director (nominated), for *The Emigrants*
- 1973: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Emigrants*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 2 won

- 1992: Best Director (won), for *Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem*
- 1968: Golden Bear (won), for *Who Saw Him Die?*

### Other awards — 5 won

- Annual award ACFK 2017: Annual award ACFK (won)
- Litteris et Artibus 2005: Litteris et Artibus (won)
- Guldbagge Award for Best Director 2001: Guldbagge Award for Best Director (won), for *As White as in Snow*
- Guldbaggen för kreativa insatser 1988: Guldbaggen för kreativa insatser (won)
- Guldbagge Award for Best Director 1967: Guldbagge Award for Best Director (won), for *Here's Your Life*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jan-troell