Introduction: On the History, Ideology, and Aesthetics of Swedish Children’s Cinema

The aim of this article is to convey the history, practices and central discourses of film education in Sweden. The first part takes the pioneering efforts, dating back to 1908, as a starting point for describing the development of nationwide school cinema, financed by public funding and coordinated by the Swedish Film Institute. As I will argue, film education in Sweden is primarily used as a tool for fostering democratic citizens. The second part of the article discusses the main discourses of this film education model – that is, what constitutes this democratic citizen – and how these are conveyed. An analysis of film study guides produced by the Swedish Film Institute between 1988 and 2018 demonstrates that the main aim of what could be referred to as the Swedish model is to foster the basic principles of human rights as defined by the United Nations, and that this is achieved in a very convincing manner.