Jul 1, 2005, 15:48 GMT
Stockholm - Saying he believes more in Bach and Beethoven than God, acclaimed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman gave extra input to a recent seminar on his work, reports said Friday.
Bergman stepped into the fray earlier this week when listening to a discussion on his 1961 film "Through a Glass Darkly," the Svenska Dagbladet daily reported.
Lutheran bishop Lennart Koskinen was discussing the absence and presence of God and atonement in the movie, when someone in the audience shouted, "what do you believe in Ingmar?", triggering Bergman's remarks:
"I believe in other worlds, other realities. But my prophets are Bach and Beethoven, they definitely show another world," the 86-year- old legend said according to Svenska Dagbladet.
To Bergman's obvious amusement, Koskinen quickly underlined that it was wrong to write off Bergman as an atheist saying that he was more like the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel.
Bergman's work had an underlying spiritual tone, Koskinen added.
Another theme was how Bergman and other artists used personal relationships and family in their work.
"We sort of profit from our environment and those who are closest to us," Bergman said. "It is shameful but that is how I have always worked."
The seminar was part of the second "Bergman Week" festival on Faro, a tiny island just off the northern tip of the Swedish Baltic Sea island Gotland.
Bergman has lived on Faro for several years, and used the island as a setting for six films.
Your Talkback on this Story