Hilma af Klint: Biography

Join us for the 4th Summer Season of transforming the Epsilon Spires parking lot into an outdoor cinema! Picture a picnic under the stars with your friends where you are entertained by innovative films projected on the big screen. Our Backlot Cinema programming celebrates cinema past and present, both popular and experimental, highlighting diverse creative voices from around the world.

In Collaboration with Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, we are delighted to present HILMA (2022). 

Directed by Lasse Hallström. Sweden, 115 min. In English.

 Director, Lasse Hallström’s Hilma brings to the big screen the life story of a woman who defied conventions and revolutionized the art world when her work was recently exhibited in its entirety at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Hilma died in 1944, unknown and unrecognized as the woman who invented abstract painting, displacing Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian as the initiators of abstract painting and Modernism. From her adoration of the anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner and her invincible belief in spirits, to her unconventional romantic life and close circle of fellow female artists who converged around Hilma and her atelier, the film provides a nuanced portrait of a woman who chose to remain true to her vision as an artist, despite working in a hostile, misogynistic world where women were not expected to express themselves and still were not allowed to vote. 

Swedish director, Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström first gained recognition for directing nearly all of world-renowned Swedish pop group Abba’s music videos. He later went on to direct acclaimed independent films like WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE, CHOCOLAT, HACHI: A DOG’S TALE and many more. He has been nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Directing and Best Adapted Screenplay for MY LIFE AS A DOG (1988), as well as Best Directing for THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (2000).

“I've spent several years trying to understand the mystery of Hilma af Klint. This is a story about an unwavering search for the truth about humanity and the universe, at a time when men set all the rules. Despite so many obstacles, Hilma created art that influences our lives today. My ambition is for the audience to experience these struggles with all their senses.” -Lars Hallström 

A note about seating in The Backlot Cinema: We encourage our guests to come as if to a picnic – so please bring your own blankets, cushions or folding chairs – you want to be comfortable so bring all the coziness you need! Restrooms provided. In the case of rain this event will be moved indoors into our Sanctuary.