Erik Skjoldbjærg

Erik Skjoldbjærg (b. 1964, Tromsø, Norway) was hailed for his short film Traces (Spor, 1996), yet it was a year later that he received instant recognition on the international scene for his remarkably stylised, chillingly dark crime thriller Insomnia (1997), featuring Stellan Skarsgård in the lead role. Five years later director Christopher Nolan came up with an American remake of the film. Skjoldbjærg embarked upon an American-German coproduction in the USA for the psychological drama Prozac Nation (2001) starring Christina Ricci, although he didn’t pursue a career in Hollywood. He returned to his native Norway, where he worked primarily in television (the series “Skolen,” 2004; mini-series “Størst av alt,” 2007). He also created a loose adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s drama An Enemy of the People (En folkefiende, 2005). —KVIFF