CANNES WATCH: Isabella Rossellini presents Cannes documentary about mother Ingrid Bergman

CANNES, France – There’s no getting away from Ingrid Bergman at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The actress’s youthful eyes stare out from the giant poster billboards speckled town, special film screenings celebrate her classic movies, and her daughter, actress Isabella Rossellini, is at the festival as jury president of the Un Certain Regard competition.

Tuesday will also see Rossellini, 62, present a documentary, directed by Stig Bjorkman, called “Ingrid Bergman, in her own words.”

The 114-minute feature uses never-before-seen documents, diaries, letters and personal images from Bergman to tell the incredible story of how a young Swedish girl went on to win three Oscars and become one of the most respected actresses in world cinema. The film artifacts Bergman had handed down to her daughter just before she died of cancer in 1982.

“When my mother died, she was very orderly, Swedish. She left a lot of letters, contracts, all the scripts. She said to me ‘I know that this is important, but I don’t know what to do with it,’” said Rossellini.

“There is some preciousness,” she added, her face lighting up.

—By Thomas Adamson