Inta Ruka – A documentary

On 11 November at 6 pm, Maud Nycander will appear at Moderna Museet to show some scenes from her coming documentary on Inta Ruka. The Latvian photographer will be presented in the exhibition series Moderna Museet Now: Inta Ruka, on 24 October 2008 – 1 March 2009.

Inta Ruka made her international breakthrough at the Venice Biennale in 1999. She has a unique style of presenting her fellow Latvians, using a Rolleiflex camera on a stand and talking with the people she portrays to generate a comfortable intimacy while waiting for the right light.

Maud Nycander’s film, which was produced for Swedish Television SVT’s channel K-Special, will be one hour long and will be ready for broadcasting in autumn 2009. At the evening event, some 15 minutes of raw-cut material will be shown, presenting Inta Ruka with her camera. During the evening, other pictures from her oeuvre will also be shown in connection with a conversation between Maud Nycander and Catrin Lundqvist, Moderna Museet.

Maud Nycander has been active as a still photographer in the past. Today, she is a documentary film maker. Her latest film, Nunnan (The Nun) won the Prix Italia award and a Swedish Guldbagge award.

Maud Nycander on her coming film: “It is about a photographer in a country – Latvia – that is very near Sweden, and yet we know so little about it. Inta is fantastic at inspiring confidence. This confidence is what her photography is based on. The film follows Inta Ruka in widely varied environments, spanning from the modern city of Riga, to a rural poverty that is reminiscent of what Sweden was like a hundred years ago. The film will also portray the working conditions for a photographer who grew up on the other side of the iron curtain.”

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to get a sneak preview of a film in progress, and to hear Maud Nycander talk about her friend and colleague Inta Ruka and the conditions and contexts in which her art has emerged and developed.