Armé-och Marinfilm (AMF) was formed on the 19th October 1920 as an association after an initiative of a few officers, with a special interest in films led by lieutenant Gunnar Dyhlén. They wanted to create an association which would supply the Armed Forces and other organisations with films for education and information. From the very start around 25 units and schools joined as members.
The first film production was a documentary on “The field service exercises in Södermanland” ,1920. Following an increasing number of productions from different parts of the Armed Forces. When the Air Force became an independent defence branch in 1926 the name of the association was changed into “Föreningen Armé- Marin- och Flygfilm”.
The defence resolution of 1925 brought about the imminent liquidation of a number of regiments. During 1926-27 the association made a very important effort by producing film memorials of most of these regiments. Not only the shutting-down ceremonies were documented but also the activities, people and places.
During the 1930th AMF, in addition to all the documentaries, produced an increasing number of educational films, i.e. on subjects such as liaison and protection services. AMF also produced one or two films for general education, often with sequences of outdoor life and sports. In 1934 the then Chief of the General Staff had an investigation made into the question of educational films within the Army, which led to the creation of a special film section at the education department of the staff. In the Marine and in the Air Force special officers were appointed for the handling of film matters.
During the years of military alert films became an important tool for strengthening the will to defend and production was focused on short films and news varieties, many to be shown before the evening’s performance in the cinemas. The allied had found during the war that instructions to soldiers on film had great pedagogical advantages. This fact was in part to characterise Swedish defence films from 1946 and onwards and a very large number were produced during the fifties, sixties and seventies. During the fifties they started to make recordings abroad during the long journeys of the Marine and the exchanges of “flying boys” in the Air Force. Army Regiments and Air Force Fleets appointed photographers on duty who documented the activities during a year of education. In the shade of the cold war a number of films on civil defence were made, which reflected the spirit of the time and age in a way which makes them into inestimable historical documents.
Different kinds of military drills were documented. Films for information on the defence were produced for schools and for the civilian market. A number of jubilee films were compiled with both new material and archive pictures.
Documentaries and educational films were produced continually during the eighties and nineties, but no longer on 35 mm or 16 mm film. Instead films were produced on video tapes and from the millennium the production is only digital.
The association Armé- Marin – och Flygfilm had the task to support filming activities in the Defence and thereby to contribute to information about the defence both within and outside the Defence Forces. The association supplied and distributed films to the Defence forces, other parts of the Total Defence and the voluntary defence organizations as well as to schools, organizations etc. outside the voluntary defence. This task was and still is, that in collaboration with the War Archives and the Defence Forces, to keep, preserve, document and make accessible the films that have been produced since the association was created and to document in moving pictures and to file events within the Defence Forces.
Chairmen of the Association
1920-1932 Col. Eric von Gegerfelt, Army
1932-1939 Adm. Fabian Tamm, Navy
1939-1947 Maj.Gen. Gustaf Lindström , Army
1947-1950 Maj.Gen Nils Swedlund, Army
1950-1959 Com. Harald Schulze, Navy
1959-1971 Maj.Gen Gunnar Brinck, Army
1971-1996 Maj.Gen Åke Sundén, Air force
1996-2001 Maj.Gen Åke Sagrén, Army
2001-2007 Vice Adm Frank Rosenius, Navy
2007-2014 Maj.Gen (rt) Lars Frisk, Army
The Administrative Director
1920-1944 Major Gunnar Dyhlén, Army
1944-1952 Major Bertil Carlsson, Army
1952- 1965 Com. Pedro Ahlmark, Navy
1965- 1977 Cap. Bo Sylvander, Army
1977- 1989 Com. Jarl Ellsén, Navy
1989- 2002 Com. Ulf Adlén, Navy
2002- 2009 Lt.Col. Anders Eisen, Air Force
2009- 2015 Peter Nordström
The association was converted into a foundation in 2014:
Chairman of the foundation
2014 – Maj Gen (rt) Lars Frisk, Army
Head of Administration of the foundation
2014 – Peter Nordström
