In 1902, two Swedish immigrants, Joel and Paul Hillstrom, arrive in the United States. They have to cope with the harsh realities of a new language and the shocking poverty that prevails in the East Side of Manhattan. Paul leaves the city but Joel, who has fallen in love with a young Italian woman, stays. The love affair doesn’t last, however, and because there is nothing to keep him in New York, Joel, now calling himself Joe Hill, heads west to join his brother.
“A major film, a beautiful political film about courage, freedom, brotherhood, dignity and the zest for life.”
France Culture
“A wonderful road movie with a social theme (with Joan Baez singing the credits!).”
Le Canard enchaîné
“Spiritedly tells the story of how this Swedish pioneer of political songs fared in America.”
L’Humanité
“Widerberg expresses the energy and generosity that underlie anarchism – whose keyword is not “chaos” but “brotherhood”.”
Les Inrocks
 Bo Widerberg was born in Malmö in 1930. He lived there until he was 30 and wrote four novels and two collections of short stories. In parallel, he developed a fascination for international cinema (Demy, Truffaut, Godard, Cassavetes). As film critic for the newspaper Expressen, he derided, as Truffaut had done a decade earlier, a cinematic culture that was characterised by visual apathy and a servile cult for Ingmar Bergman’s films. Instead, he lauded the spontaneity, sensuality and emotion of the French New Wave.
His work from the 1960s onwards thus contrasted sharply with Bergman’s, though both earned a place in the Swedish hall of fame. The Baby Carriage (1963), retitled Le Péché suédois in France, was presented at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes in 1963. Raven’s End (1963) represented Sweden in Cannes in 1964 and was nominated for an Oscar. After the success of Adalen 31 (1969) in Cannes, Winderberg left for the US to make Joe Hill, which earned him his third accolade in Cannes.
From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Bo Widerberg was a leading filmmaker on the international scene popular with both critics and audiences. The following decade saw him alternate between film and TV work. His last film, All Things Fair (1995), starring his own son, was nominated for an Oscar.
Bo Widerberg died of cancer in 1997 at the age of 66.
Joe Hill by Bo Widerberg
Sweden, 1971, 1:57
With Kelvin Malave, Everet Anderson, Cathy Smith,Hasse Persson, David Moritz, Richard Weber, Joel Miller, Robert Faeder
Camera: Peter Davidsson
Written, directed and edited by Bo Widerberg
Music: Stefan Grossmam
Useful information
- Admission free while space lasts.
- Entrance through the garden gate at 10, rue Elzévir.
- The screening will not take place if it rains.