Levan Akin
Levan Akin (born 14 December 1979) is a Swedish film director and screenwriter, best known for his film And Then We Danced, that received critical acclaim and won the 2019 Guldbagge Award for Best Film.
Levan Akin

Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Levan Akin
- Born
- 14 December 1979
- Birthplace
- Botkyrka, Sweden
- Occupation
- * Film director
- Nationality
- Sweden.
- Fields
- film direction and film screenwriting.
- Honours
- Guldbagge Award for Best Screenplay and Guldbagge Award for Best Director.
- Languages
- Swedish.
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Documentary summary
Levan Akin (born 14 December 1979) is a Swedish film director and screenwriter, best known for his film And Then We Danced, that received critical acclaim and won the 2019 Guldbagge Award for Best Film.
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Note VALÉORINE
Levan Akin (born 1979) is a Swedish actor, film director and film producer, among other activities. The actor was born in Tumba.
Levan Akin worked in Georgia. The actor is active in film direction and film screenwriting.
Languages used include Swedish. Levan Akin received Guldbagge Award for Best Director and Guldbagge Award for Best Screenplay.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q5544917 · wikipedia · Levan Akin
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is Swedish. The field of work recorded is film direction and film screenwriting. Places of work recorded in the authority are Georgia. Distinctions recorded are Guldbagge Award for Best Screenplay and Guldbagge Award for Best Director.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Levan Akin • Born — 14 December 1979 • Birthplace — Botkyrka, Sweden • Occupation — * Film director • screenwriter • Years Active — 2007-present
Biography
Biography
Levan Akin was born and raised in Tumba, Sweden. His family is among the Georgians who emigrated to the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. His parents emigrated from Turkey to Sweden in 1965. Akin returns to Georgia every year with his sister for the summer holidays. There he consolidates his knowledge of Georgian culture and the practice of the Georgian language. He is openly gay.
Career
Career
Akin started out as an assistant director in film productions, mainly at Sveriges Television. He worked at Studio 24 for the production of You, the Living (Du Levande) by Roy Andersson (2007). In 2008, he won two awards at the Hamburg Film Festival alongside film designer and producer Erika Stark for the short film De sista sakerna (2008). Levan Akin then directed series such as Second Avenue (Andra Avenyn, 2008–2010), Livet i Fagervik (2009), Anno 1790 (2011) and Real Humans (Äkta människor, 2012) for the television channel Sveriges Television. In autumn 2011, his first feature film Katinkas kalas, premiered at the Stockholm International Film Festival. The plot focuses on the inner tensions of a group of young people celebrating a birthday on a summer night. Three of the cast, mostly not known to the wider public, received nominations for the L'Oréal Paris Rising Star award, and Yohanna Idha was nominated for 2013 Guldbagge Award as Best Supporting Actress. In 2019, Akin's second film And Then We Danced was released to critical acclaim. It was premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival where it received a fifteen-minute standing ovation. Set in Georgia, the film follows Merab, a student from a Georgian traditional dance school who falls in love with his male rival. The Georgian Orthodox Church officially expressed its disapproval of the promotion and screening of the film, and the release of the film in November 2019 caused riots in Tbilisi and Batumi. In June 2020, Akin was selected as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2024, Akin's third film Crossing had its world premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
TV series
TV series
• 2007: Labyrint mobisodes • 2008–2010: Second Avenue (Andra Avenyn) (Directed 10 episodes) • 2009: Livet i Fagervik (Directed 3 episodes) • 2011: Anno 1790 (Directed 3 episodes) • 2012: Real Humans (Äkta människor) (Directed 4 episodes) • 2021: Dough (Deg) (Directed 2 episodes; also writer) • 2022–present: Interview with the Vampire (Directed 7 episodes; also co-executive producer of season 2)
Feature films
Feature films
• Year — English Title — Original Title — Notes • 2011 — Katinkas kalas • 2015 — The Circle — Cirkeln • 2019 — And Then We Danced — და ჩვენ ვიცეკვეთ • 2024 — Crossing — გადასვლა • TBA — Summer in Heat — In production
Short film
Short film
• 2008: De sista sakerna
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Meza, Ed. Levan Akin on the Impact of 'And Then We Danced'. Variety. 19 August 2019.
- 2.Andersson, Jan-Olov. Levan Akin om att hans film är Sveriges Oscarsbidrag: "Det är helt galet". Aftonbladet. 13 September 2019.
- 3.Dalton, Ben. 'And Then We Danced', 'Aniara' lead winners at Sweden's 2020 Guldbagge awards. Screendaily. 21 January 2020.
- 4.Oscarsson, Mattias. Levan Akin: Vi hade livvakter under inspelningen. Sydsvenskan. 16 May 2019.
- 5.Queer Film Festival. Als wir tanzten.
- 6.Aksamaz, Ali İhsan. “'GÜRCİSTAN' KİTABI TÜRKİYE'DE YAŞAYAN GÜRCÜ HALKI İÇİN BİR MİLÂTTI!”. Circassian Center.
- 7.Cauhapé, Véronique. Levan Akin, réalisateur de " Et puis nous danserons " : " La Géorgie est composée de deux mondes parallèles ". Le Monde. 6 November 2019.
- 8.Gibley, Ryan. 'I saw In Bed with Madonna 50 times. I'd never seen guys kissing before': Levan Akin on formative films, trans rights and usurping his heroes. The Guardian. 12 July 2024.
- 9.Eriksson, Karoline. Filmfest med kulturhipsters – SvD. Svenska Dagbladet. 8 November 2011.
- 10.News Powered by Cision. Svenska skådespelartalanger nominerade till L'Oréal Paris Rising Star.
- 11.Boyd Van Hoeij. Certain People. Variety. 6 May 2012.
- 12.Fandango Media. And Then We Danced. Rotten Tomatoes.
- 13.And Then We Danced. Metacritic.
- 14.Keslassy, Elsa. Cannes: Deerskin With Jean Dujardin to Open Directors' Fortnight. Variety. 4 April 2019.
- 15.Goodfellow, Melanie. Cannes Directors' Fortnight unveils genre-heavy 2019 selection. ScreenDaily.
- 16.Fenwick, George. And Then We Danced is putting a spotlight on homophobia in Georgia. Evening Standard. 2020-03-06.
- 17.Police mobilized at Amirani Cinema. InterPressNews. 8 November 2019.
- 18.Riot police mobilized at Amirani Cinema. InterPressNews. 8 November 2019.
- 19.Georgian March members trying to forcibly enter Amirani Cinema. InterPressNews. 8 November 2019.
- 20.Protesters clash with police officers at "Apollo" cinema in Batumi
- 21.Protesters clash with police officers at "Apollo" cinema in Batumi. InterPressNews. 8 November 2019.
- 22.ACADEMY INVITES 819 TO MEMBERSHIP. Oscars.org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2020-06-30.
- 23.Goodfellow, Melanie. Berlinale Unveils Full Panorama, Forum & Generation Line-Ups With New Films By Nathan Silver, Levan Akin, André Téchiné & Bruce LaBruce. Deadline Hollywood. 17 January 2024.
- 24.Crossing. Berlin International Film Festival.
References
Citations
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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