Their Holiday Favorites: Jesse Trussell and the Magic of 'Fanny and Alexander'

Welcome to Their Holiday Favorites, a series in which members of the Austin film community tell us about movies they enjoy watching during the holiday season. This one is from Jesse Trussell, film programmer at Paramount Theatre.

My favorite holiday film has to be Fanny and Alexander by Ingmar Bergman. While not an obvious first choice, since only part of it is set at Christmastime, the film premiered on Swedish TV on Christmas Day 1982 and I can see why.

I don't think any film has better captured the magic (both joyful and terrifying) that childhood can contain, and for me that magic of childhood is exactly what the holidays are all about.

Want to watch?  Encore Movies and Music and Vulcan Video both offer the uncut TV version and the theatrical version of Fanny and Alexander on DVD for rental. If you have cable, TCM will be showing the 1982 film (likely the theatrical version) on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 1:30 am.