Film Screening: HILMA

May 1st at the Garden Theater, Lasse Hallstrom’s HILMA followed by saw& A with the director, Lena Olin and Tora Hallstrom.

Lasse Hallström’s Hilma brings to life the story of a woman who posthumously revolutionized the art world as one of the first abstract artists. In this immersive biopic starring Tora Hallström as the young Hilma, and Lena Olin as the mature Hilma, we follow the artist from her early life through her rising artistic career and spiritual awakening after the loss of her beloved younger sister Hermina. Hilma explores af Klint’s spiritualism, her unconventional love life, and the impetus behind her work — from the writings of Rudolph Steiner to the strong influence of the Theosophic Movement, and her belief in its mystical philosophy — in a portrait of a woman well ahead of her time.

Having remained unknown and unrecognized as the woman who invented abstract painting after her death in 1944, a 2019 Guggenheim Museum exhibition devoted to Hilma af Klint’s work became her first major solo exhibition in the U.S., revolutionizing the art world and art history while displacing Kandinsky, Malevich and Mondrian as the fathers of Modernism.

Starring twice Oscar nominated Lena Olin, Tora Hallström, Catherine Chalk, Lily Cole, and Tom Wlaschiha

Director: Lasse Hallström. Sweden, 2022, 120 min. In English.