Aug 6, 2007, 15:13 GMT
Stockholm - Relatives of legendary Swedish film-maker Ingmar Bergman were Monday still shrouding all details of his burial in secrecy more than a week after his death.
A file photo dated 1955 of Swedish legendary film director Ingmar Bergman drinking a cup of tea while shooting the movie 'Smiles of a Summer Night'. Ingmar Bergman has died, Swedish news agency TT reported 30 July 2007. He was 89 years old. EPA/SCANPIX ** SWEDEN OUT **
Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell, who is married to Bergman's daughter, Eva, said Monday in Stockholm that a statement would be made mid-week, but declined to comment on the contents.
Bergman died last week aged 89 in his house on the tiny Baltic Sea island of Faro. The filmmaker, who had received several Oscars and prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, wanted to be buried in the island's graveyard. Only 600 people reside on Faro.
Bergman had planned his own burial and stipulated that it be held in private, without commemorative speeches and among his closest family members and friends only.
Born in Uppsala on July 14, 1918 as the son of a minister, Bergman decided on a church burial and expressed the wish to be buried alongside his fifth wife, Ingrid von Rosen, who died in 1995.
However, von Rosen would have to be moved from her grave in the city of Norrtalje, which is hardly ever possible under Swedish law.
Stockholm's Dramaten Royal Theater has announced an official memorial service for Bergman, who has been lauded as one of the most important directors of the 20th century. A date for the service has not yet been set.
Until 2002, Bergmann had spent decades working at the theatre as a director and was also artistic director for a time.
Several thousand Swedes and foreign visitors had signed the book of condolences in the theatre's foyer after his death became known.
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