Otto Bökman

Otto Bökman was trained as a retail assistant. He soon became a pioneer in cinematography in Sweden. He was employed in 1897 by the photographic manufacturer and producer Numa Peterson (1837-1902), and his son Mortimer (1867-1920), who held the license of the French Lumière company. For Peterson Otto filmed, amongst others, The Horse Exhibition on Djurgården, Östberg’s velociped school and Swimming show at Strömbadet. In 1901 he became head of the company’s phonograph and film department, a position he held until 1911.

Bökman was the cameraman of several films including A series of pictures from the life of King Oscar II (1908); The darling of the Stockholm ladies (1911), Stockholm Temptations or An adventure of Norrland’s Gentleman in the City of the Beautiful Sinner (1911), and the first film adaptation of Strindberg’s drama Miss Julie (1912). From around 1920 he only produced animal documentaries. In 1934 he was listed in Stockholm’s phone book as a merchant in film articles. Bökman competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm in clay pigeon shooting.