Anja Breien

Anja Breien (12 July 1940 – 10 May 2026) was a Norwegian film director and screenwriter. One of the leading figures of the Norwegian film industry, and one of the first women to rise to prominence as a writer-director in Norway, Breien's body of work in fiction and documentary explores social and political issues, notably women's rights within the context of Norwegian society.

Background Born in Oslo on 12 July 1940, Breien was a daughter of writer Hans Breien and Dagmar Munch Søegaard. She did not marry,

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. Her first feature-length film was Rape (Voldtekt), released in 1971. 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.

Breien's 1979 film Next of Kin (Arven), also known as Heritage and The Inheritance, was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival;

Style Breien is noted for her realist approach to storytelling, her use of the long take, and her use of a slow, contemplative pace.