Peter von Bagh is a film historian, author of more than 20 books (including The History of World Cinema, 1975); television and radio director for all his life; a book publisher (more than 100 books from Balzac to Eisenstein, Bazin, Langlois, Fellini); a film film director (with a speciality to compilation films, the latest being 'The Blue Song', a 12 hour series about the history of Finnish arts) and scriptwriter (e.g. films of Risto Jarva); curator (1967-70) and program director (1970-85) of The Finnish Film Archive; editor-in-chief (since 1971) of the 'Filmihullu' magazine; a professor of film history in the Helsinki University of Arts; and the artistic director of two festivals, The Midnight Sun Film Festival (co-founded in 1986 with Kaurismäki brothers) that takes place in Lapland, beyond the polar circle, and Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna, since 2001. Peter Von Bagh lives in Helsinki.