Photo: Alex Linden, President of FSF (Swedish Cinematographers Society)

In January this year, some NZCS board members were host to Alex Linden visit for a short period of time and had expressed interest to meet up with some NZCS team.

It turns out Alex loves travelling, and he had some airpoints that were about to expire, so he hopped on a plane to New Zealand – a 20 hour flight each way from Sweden to be on the ground in Auckland for around 48 hours only! He made a similar trip last year to Austraia to meet some ACS members! 

Murray, Ainsley and myself met Alex in the Wynyard quarter, and had a great catch up about the workings of the FSF and the Swedish film industry, and comparing it to the state of the industry in NZ and the role of our society.

Alex is also the General Secretary of IMAGO, so we had some good discussions on the new blood and future direction of IMAGO, which has seen some controversial internal politics over the last 5 years.

On his second day in Auckland, I took Alex on a sightseeing trip to the Muriwai Gannet Colony and the Cascade  Kauri Regional Park, near Bethell’s Beach. Alex was very happy to get into the outdoors and hug a tree before jumping back on a 20 hour plane ride! 

He is currently just concluding the 2026 IMAGO annual General Assembly in Austria. In 2025 it was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil – the first time in the Americas. The NZCS has a UK based board member, Marc Swadel, attending on our behalf as a delegate and reporting back on his role on the IMAGO Gender Diversity Committee.

Donny Duncan NZCS

Photo: (L to R) Murray Milne NZCS, Alex Lindon, Donny Duncan NZCS