Anders Engström

Short Biography

Anders Engström (1963- ) graduated from the London International film School in 1987. After directing several short films, including Flaggstölden in 1988, for which he was awarded The Finnish State Film Prize, Engström made his breakthrough with the TV series Småstadberättelser (1994), comprised of four different stories. The series was produced by Jörn Donner and was awarded The Finnish State Quality Prize in 1994, and nominated for Prix Italia that same year. The series was written by Gerald Wilson. Angstrom then directed a few high-profile series, such as Anna Holt - polis (1996) (for which he was awarded the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet's TV-prize in 1997) and the thriller Insider (1999). Working with his own production company, Engström produced and directed the mini-series Lusthusberättelser (Stories From A Gazebo) for which he was awarded the Topelius Prize (Finland).In 1999 Engström directed his first English-language production, the German-Australian co-production Die Millennium-Katastrophe - Computer-Crash 2000 (1999) (also known as Error 2000). It was produced by Sat1 (Germany) and ABC Australia and starred Jürgen Prochnow as the lead, with supporting roles by Götz Otto and Desmond Llewelyn (Q from James Bond films). The broadcasting rights were sold to 28 countries. In 2006, Engström directed some of the films in the popular series Wallander (2005). Engstrom's episodes in particular scored very high ratings in Britain and received lavish praise in the British press. In December 2006 the mini-series Isabella (2006) premiered on Finnish TV, written by Michael Müller. The mini-series, and its stars Irina Björklund and Peter Franzén, received a lot of attention in the media, and Engström was awarded "Best Director" at the Venla Awards for the series. In 2007, Engström directed two Irene Huss films: Irene Huss: Irene Huss - Nattrond (2008) and Irene Huss: Irene Huss - Eldsdansen (2008). In 2008, he directed the mini-series Morden (2009).