Bergman tributes tied up in court

Litigation leaves limited access to director's films It may be July, but don't expect "Smiles on a Summer Night" -- at least not in the U.S. "Cries and Whispers" of frustration may be more like it. With the one-year anni of Ingmar Bergman's death July 30, arthouse auds might have expected a slew of screenings of the great Swedish director's works. But long-running litigation between the Isis Theater in Aspen, Colo., and Swedish film giant Svensk Filmindustri, which holds the rights to virtually all Bergman-directed films, has thwarted pic access. In 1997 Svensk began developing the Isis with Resort Theaters of America. Svensk guaranteed the lease but then refused to pay when RTA went bankrupt. A Colorado court found in favor of Isis -- but Svensk refused to hand over a cent toward the compensation, which now stands at $8.9... [read full story]