Once Upon a Time There Was a Now

Jan Troell turns the camera toward his own life and work, assembling a flowing mosaic of film excerpts, personal recordings, landscapes, and fleeting moments. Spanning eight decades of filmmaking, the film meditates on time, perception, and the quiet persistence of artistic curiosity. Structured as an evolving work rather than a definitive farewell, this version—completed in January 2025—presents cinema as a way of living attentively in the present.Jan Troell turns the camera toward his own life and work, assembling a flowing mosaic of film excerpts, personal recordings, landscapes, and fleeting moments. Spanning eight decades of filmmaking, the film meditates on time, perception, and...