Anja Breien
Anja Breien in 2016 (Ankara, Turkey)
Born	(1940-07-12) 12 July 1940 (age 83) Oslo, Norway
Occupation(s)	Film director and screenwriter
Years active	1967–present

Anja Breien (born 12 July 1940)^[1] is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter. One of the leading figures of the Norwegian film industry,^[2] and one of the first women to rise to prominence as a writer-director in Norway,^[3] Breien's body of work in fiction and documentary explores social and political issues, notably women's rights within the context of Norwegian society.^[3][4]

Career

After completing her studies in French at the University of Oslo, Breien went on to graduate from the French film school L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in 1964.^[2] She began working in film as a script supervisor on the Nils R. Müller film Det Store Varpet in 1961.^[2] She also worked as an assistant director on Hunger (Sult) (1966), directed by Henning Carlsen and based on the novel by Knut Hamsun.^[5]

Breien's first film as a director and screenwriter was a short in 1967 titled Growing Up,^[6] followed by her short documentary 17. May – A Film about Rituals (17. Mai – En film om ritualer) (1969), a satirical look at the celebration of the Norwegian National Day.^[7] Her first feature-length film was Rape (Voldtekt), released in 1971.^[2] Rape was praised by critics,^[2] but also sparked debate due to its criticism of the Norwegian criminal justice system.^[3]

Breien subsequently wrote and directed Wives (Hustruer) (1975), which became a box-office success and received critical acclaim throughout Scandinavia.^[4] Wives was inspired as a feminist response to John Cassavetes' Husbands (1972), and follows three women in their thirties who temporarily abandon their domestic responsibilities for a day of freedom.^[5] Breien went on to write and direct two sequels, Wives - Ten Years After (Hustruer 10 År Etter) (1985) and Wives III (Hustruer 20 År Etter) (1996), featuring the same characters ten and twenty years later.^[2]

In 1981's Witch Hunt (Forfølgelsen), Breien again critiqued her home country's patriarchal society through the story of a woman accused of witchcraft in 1630s western Norway.^[5] Witch Hunt was entered into the main competition of the 1981 Venice Film Festival.^[6]

Breien's 1979 film Next of Kin (Arven), also known as Heritage and The Inheritance,^[2] a drama about a Norwegian family in conflict over an inheritance,^[8] was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival;^[2] it ended up winning the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.^[6]

Breien has directed most of the films produced from her screenplays, one exception being 1994's Second Sight (Trollsyn), directed by Ola Solum.^[3]

In addition to her extensive work in fiction cinema, Breien has continued to make documentaries throughout her career, many of which have been screened internationally.^[2] Her short documentary Solvorn (1997), constructed around a series of photographs taken by Breien's grandmother, screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998.^[9]

Style

Breien is noted for her realist approach to storytelling, her use of the long take, and her use of a slow, contemplative pace.^[5] Rape (1971) uses a non-chronological storytelling technique and has been compared to Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011).^[4]

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations