Dogwoof Trailer for ‘The Most Beautiful Boy in the World’ Documentary
by Alex Billington
June 17, 2021
Source: YouTube
“A haunting exploration…” Dogwoof in the UK has unveiled a new official UK trailer for a doc called The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, which initially premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (watch the first trailer from then) and also played at the Hong Kong & Cleveland Film Festivals. In 1971, at the world premiere of Death in Venice in London, Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti proclaimed Björn Andrésen, the teen star of his latest film, “The most beautiful boy in the world.” This is the story of a boy who was thrust to international stardom for his iconic looks and lived a life of glamour. A shadow that today, 50 years later, weighs Björn Andresen’s life. The film is by Swedish filmmakers Kristina Lindström & Kristian Petri. “Being immortalized as an iconic boy meant that Andrésen spent most of his adult life trying to be invisible, refusing to have his identity shaped by a shallow fantasy about who he was.” Indeed. This is a remarkable and awe-inspiring doc about just how bad it is to be proclaimed “the most beautiful boy in the world” and how it has been so hard for him ever since. I saw this during Sundance and highly recommend it.
New trailer (+ poster) for Lindström & Petri’s doc The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, on YouTube:
You can view the original promo trailer for The Most Beautiful Boy in the World here, to see more footage.
In 1970, filmmaker Luchino Visconti travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. In Stockholm, he discovered Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old teenager, who he brought to international fame overnight and led to spend a short but intense part of his turbulent youth between the Lido in Venice, London, the Cannes Film Festival and the so distant Japan. Fifty years after the premiere of Death in Venice, Björn takes us on a remarkable journey made of personal memories, cinematographic history, stardust and tragic events in what could be the last attempt for him to finally get his life back on track. The Most Beautiful Boy in the World is co-directed by Swedish filmmakers Kristina Lindström (of the doc Palme) & Kristian Petri (of the docs Atlanten, Fyren, Tokyo Noise, Brunnen, Styckmordet, The Hotel, Winter Light Revisited). This initially premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and it also played at CPH DOX. Dogwoof will debut The Most Beautiful Boy in the World in UK cinemas on July 30th. No US release date is set yet.
