The Miracle of Life (1982 film)

The Miracle of Life
SwedishSagan om livet
Directed byBo G. Erikson
Carol O. Löfman
Music byAnders Berglund
Country of originSweden
Original languageSwedish
Production
ProducersBo G. Erikson
Carol O. Löfman
CinematographyLennart Nilsson
Running time55 minutes
Original release
NetworkTV2
Release26 November 1982 (1982-11-26)

The Miracle of Life (Swedish: Sagan om livet) is a Swedish documentary film about the human reproductive process. The film won multiple awards including a Peabody and an Emmy (News and Documentary) when it was broadcast as part of the American Public TV series Nova. Photographed by Lennart Nilsson and produced by Bo Erikson and Carol Löfman, the program originally aired in Sweden on November 26, 1982 under the title of Sagan om livet ("The Saga of Life"). The BBC acquired the film as an episode for the documentary series Horizon and aired it that same month. Many scenes were edited and the intro in both the Horizon and Nova versions are different, as well as the ending scene where the baby was born.

The Nova adaptation of the film was broadcast on PBS on February 15, 1983. It was written and produced by Bebe Nixon and narrated by Anita Sangiolo.

A sequel called "Life's Greatest Miracle" aired on November 20, 2001 on PBS using microimagery taken again by Lennart Nilsson with narration by John Lithgow.

Awards

The episode won the following awards:

1984
1983

References

  1. 1 2 "NOVA – Broadcast Awards Listed by Date". Public Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on October 20, 2002. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  2. ↑ The Emmy went to the original Swedish producers, Bo Erikson and Carl Lofman, see PDF (badly searchable, search "/15/8 3"), probably only retrievable via defunct Emmyonline.com, News and Documentary, then "Past Awards": "5th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards (For Programming Originally Aired in Calendar Year 1983) – Winners/Nominations" is the link to the PDF.
  3. ↑ "SVT, TV2 1982-11-26". Svensk mediedatabas. National Library of Sweden. Retrieved August 14, 2026.
  4. ↑ http://embryo.asu.edu/view/embryo:127874 [dead link]
  5. ↑ "Life's Greatest Miracle". NOVA. November 20, 2001.
  6. ↑ "The Peabody Awards - NOVA: The Miracle of Life". PEABody Awards. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  7. ↑ Notable children's films and videos, filmstrips, and recordings, 1973-1986. Chicago: ALA. 1987. ISBN 978-0-8389-3342-8. Retrieved February 15, 2024.