Anja Breien

Directing

Anja Breien

Born 1940-07-12 · Oslo, Norway

Anja Breien (1940-2026) was educated at the French film school L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), graduating in 1964, after first having studied french at the University of Oslo, as well as having had her start in the movie-business working as a script supervisor on Nils R. Müllers film Det Store Varpet in 1961. She made her directorial debut with the short film Growing Up in 1967, based on a medieval legend. The short was later to become part of the portmanteau film Days From A Thousand Years in 1970. Her feature film debut was the criminal drama Rape in 1971, which received favorable reviews, and has in recent years been released on DVD as part of the 'Norwegian Classics'-line. Breien's second film followed in 1975, and has since become one of the most commented and analyzed films in Norwegian cinema history: The cheerful and decidedly feminist comedyWives became a box-office success, and made editor of International Film Guide, Peter Cowie, refer to Breien as a dogme-director twenty years ahead of time. The film also spurred to popular sequels; Wives - Ten Years After (1985) and Wives III (1995), examining the lives of the characters of the original film ten and twenty years on. Wives - Ten Years After was also awarded the Norwegian National Film Award Amanda for Best Film of 1985. After the critical acclaim and commercial success of the first Wives-film in 1975, Breien was firmly established as one of the leading directors in Norwegian cinema, a position she further cemented in the following years, directing critically hailed films like Games of Love and Loneliness (1977) and Heritage (1979), the latter of which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Her 1981 drama Witch Hunt was selected for the Venice Film Festival, and the thriller Paper Bird (1984) further displayed Breien's proficiency across genres. In addition to directing numerous feature films of significance, Breien has also established herself as a director of perhaps equally important short and documentary films, through her entire career. In addition to her early short, more recent films such as Solvorn (1997), To see a Boat in Sails(2000), Untitled - Sans tître (2005), Etching (2009) and Yezidi (2009) have all been screened at international festivals, and received several awards. The documentary short To See a Boat in Sails (2000) was for instance awarded the Prix UIP Berlin at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2001, and also the award for Best Live Action Short Film at the Toronto World Wide Short Film Festival. While first and foremost recognized as a director, it must also be noted that Breien has extensive experience as a writer, and has written most of her own films over the years, be they either original screenplays or adaptations. She has also written screenplays for other directors, notably Ola Solum's Second Sight from 1994.  A subject of academic interest on every level, a pioneer among Norwegian female film professionals, and one of the still active longtime veterans of the Norwegian film industry, Anja Breien is revered and respected as one of the most influential and important directors in Norwegian film history, as well as one of Norway's most internationally recognized directors, with a career spanning five decades.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Witch Hunt poster
5.9

The year is 1630. A young woman in Laupstad comes to a small mountain village. She witnesses a woman being hunted and captured.

The Witch Hunt

1981

The Witch Hunt poster
5.9

The year is 1630. A young woman in Laupstad comes to a small mountain village. She witnesses a woman being hunted and captured.

The Witch Hunt

1981

Games of Love and Loneliness poster
4.2

Arvid falls in love with Lydia but puts the budding romance on hold to pursue a career and material wealth. Lydia is willing to wait for Arvid, until her father dies, leaving her finances in a dire state.

Games of Love and Loneliness

1977

Games of Love and Loneliness poster
4.2

Arvid falls in love with Lydia but puts the budding romance on hold to pursue a career and material wealth. Lydia is willing to wait for Arvid, until her father dies, leaving her finances in a dire state.

Games of Love and Loneliness

1977

Dager fra 1000 år poster
5.7

An episode film initiated by Erik Borge, the fresh director of Norwegian Film, giving fresh film makers a chance of being seen by a big audience. Anja Breien, Egil Kolstø and Espen Thorstensons got the chance with very diverse films.An episode film initiated by Erik Borge, the fresh director of Norwegian Film, giving fresh film makers a chance of being seen by a big audience. Anja Breien, Egil Kolstø and Espen Thorstensons got the chance with very diverse films.

Dager fra 1000 år

1970

Untitled poster
6.5

A poetic film about a cruel theme, told in a way that doesn't make the spectators close their eyes.

Untitled

2005

Untitled poster
6.5

A poetic film about a cruel theme, told in a way that doesn't make the spectators close their eyes.

Untitled

2005

Next of Kin poster
4.8

Gathered at a funeral for a successful business man, the testament is to be read. They will all inherit, with a big IF; if the family company is to be joint run by all the heirs.

Next of Kin

1979

Next of Kin poster
4.8

Gathered at a funeral for a successful business man, the testament is to be read. They will all inherit, with a big IF; if the family company is to be joint run by all the heirs.

Next of Kin

1979

Wives - Ten Years After poster
5.0

Ten years have passed since our three heroines' first outing in 1975. Now the women meet at yet another class reunion. Not surprisingly, they are still unwilling to call it a night after the party is over. Husbands and children must celebrate Christmas as best they can, while the women spend quality time drinking and taking stock of their lives.

Wives - Ten Years After

1985

Wives - Ten Years After poster
5.0

Ten years have passed since our three heroines' first outing in 1975. Now the women meet at yet another class reunion. Not surprisingly, they are still unwilling to call it a night after the party is over. Husbands and children must celebrate Christmas as best they can, while the women spend quality time drinking and taking stock of their lives.

Wives - Ten Years After

1985

Å se en båt med seil poster
7.0

A weathered face, an old man skiing in Rondane ... Neapolitan song, music over the snow - memories of childhood summers, a boat ... The landscape is snowy now - a boat here ... In the snow?

Å se en båt med seil

2001

No artwork available
5.0

Gaining unprecedented access to the heart of the Yezidi community, this revealing documentary unveils the ways of a Kurdish religious minority that has traditionally been surrounded by mystery. The elusive portrait of a world that seems to exist and survive outside the boundaries of time, abiding by its own set of eternal rules. A breathtaking journey into the soul at a population remorselessly hunted and persecuted that urges us to take a distance from our established viewpoint.

Jezidi

2009

No artwork available
5.0

Gaining unprecedented access to the heart of the Yezidi community, this revealing documentary unveils the ways of a Kurdish religious minority that has traditionally been surrounded by mystery. The elusive portrait of a world that seems to exist and survive outside the boundaries of time, abiding by its own set of eternal rules. A breathtaking journey into the soul at a population remorselessly hunted and persecuted that urges us to take a distance from our established viewpoint.

Jezidi

2009

No artwork available
NR

The film is based on a legend that goes back to 1349, when the black plague reached Norway after ravaging in Europe. Legend of a little girl, the sole survivor plague in the isolated mountain village Justedalen. The girl closely linked to nature and becomes like a wild bird, says the legend.

Vokse opp

1967

No artwork available
NR

The film is based on a legend that goes back to 1349, when the black plague reached Norway after ravaging in Europe. Legend of a little girl, the sole survivor plague in the isolated mountain village Justedalen. The girl closely linked to nature and becomes like a wild bird, says the legend.

Vokse opp

1967

Untitled poster
4.5

A man covers his head with several headscarfs, one by one... .

Untitled

2004

Rape poster
6.6

It's winter in a suburb. A housewife is brutally raped. A young woman becomes a victim of attempted rape. The Police tighten noose on Anders, a young road worker who was seen on the site in both cases. The two women think they recognize him in the lineup, and police investigators use all their strength to solve the case. Anders is a common and simple individual. He could be any youth. The meeting with the ongoing investigation and the solid judiciary, forces him out of a seemingly monotonous, habitual life and forces him to react and think.

Rape

1971

Rape poster
6.6

It's winter in a suburb. A housewife is brutally raped. A young woman becomes a victim of attempted rape. The Police tighten noose on Anders, a young road worker who was seen on the site in both cases. The two women think they recognize him in the lineup, and police investigators use all their strength to solve the case. Anders is a common and simple individual. He could be any youth. The meeting with the ongoing investigation and the solid judiciary, forces him out of a seemingly monotonous, habitual life and forces him to react and think.

Rape

1971

Wives poster
6.0

Following a drunken school reunion, Mie, Kaja and Heidrun, three school friends now in their 30s, realize how they're dominated by their husbands’ needs and demands. Aching for a taste of freedom, the trio go off on a spree.

Wives

1975

Wives poster
6.0

Following a drunken school reunion, Mie, Kaja and Heidrun, three school friends now in their 30s, realize how they're dominated by their husbands’ needs and demands. Aching for a taste of freedom, the trio go off on a spree.

Wives

1975

Solvorn poster
6.0

Anja Breien came across a box of glass plate negatives that her grandmother had photographed, many of them with remote trigger. Breien made contact copies of them and discovered a poetic talent. This film is an attempt to get a piece of her grandmother's life, of family life? an attempt to grab a forgotten past. Can we remember others' memories?

Solvorn

1997

Oslofilm: Ansikter poster
NR

A film about faces, about expressions, about situations. The film is based on a poem by the Danish poet Poul Borum. The recordings are made in the Munch Museum in Oslo and based on the faces of Munch's pictures.

Oslofilm: Ansikter

1969

Herbergistene poster
5.0

A political short from Norwegian director Anja Breien.

Herbergistene

1973