Some of the reactions today to the death of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish film director:

“The world has lost one of its very greatest filmmakers. He taught us all so much throughout his life.”

Richard Attenborough, film director.

“He was a director of the human condition, of the misery of man, of feminine mystery... the last of the greats because he proved that cinema can be as profound as literature.”

Gilles Jacob, director of the Cannes Film Festival

“Bergman’s work left no doubt that film and its expressions are at least as strong as any of the old arts: music or painting.”

Alexander Horwath, director of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna

"His pieces are immortal. Ingmar Bergman was one of the greatest dramatists in the world – for many he was the absolute greatest. I think it is difficult to understand the enormous contribution to the Swedish film industry and drama in Sweden and abroad that Ingmar Bergman mad."

Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister

“He was one of the great masters and one of the great humanists of cinema. There are very few people of that kind of stature today. He proved that cinema could be an art form.”

Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound, the magazine of the British Film Institute

"It is a great loss. I am in shock.. There were Kurosawa, Fellini and then Bergman. Now he is also gone.”

Bille August, film director.

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