The Swedish filmmaking legend Ingmar Bergman has donated his manuscripts, notebooks, plot summaries, sketches, photographs and behind-the-scenes films to the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) and the newly-established Ingmar Bergman Foundation.

'With his vast knowledge and commitment, nobody has made a greater contribution to the preservation of Sweden's film heritage than Ingmar Bergman,' said Ase Kleveland, director general of the SFI. 'Now, with the Bergman Foundation, we will be able to uphold the proud history of Swedish cinema in all its glory. A natural step will be to forge links with similar institutions, such as the Fellini and Kurosawa Foundations.'

While most of the gift was contained in 45 packing cases transported from his island home of Faro to Stockholm, the gift also includes 40 years of material preserved and collected in Bergman's office at the Royal Dramatic

Theatre. Among the materials are also rare making-of footage from 18 of his films including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and Scenes From A Marriage. Bergman has offered to annotate and edit this footage himself.

Bergman is currently preparing the shoot of Saraband, a follow-up to his 1973 classic Scenes From A Marriage.