Jens Lien went to London in 1990, to play rock'n'roll. Three years later he returned as a filmmaker educated at the London International Film School, with his graduation film Montana to be screened at several international film festivals.
After returning to Norway in 1993 Lien made his living primarily directing commercials and documentaries for television, in addition to directing several short films. Among these are Shut the Door (2000) and Natural Glasses (2001), both invited for the Official Competiton in Cannes. Both films have won several awards at various international film festivals. Lien also has numerous experimental films on his list of credits, and his video-installation Naken greve was included in the prestigious Høstutstillingen in 1998, the annual national art exhibition in Oslo each autumn.
In 2003 he made his feature film debut with the comedic drama Jonny Vang, which premiered at the international film festival in Berlin, as part of the Panorama section. His next film was the critically acclaimed and award-winning The Bothersome Man, which had its world premiere at the Critics' Week in Cannes 2006. His third feature, Sons of Norway was the opening film of the 39th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund in August 2011.
Norsk Filminstitutt
