Jörn Donner

Jörn Johan Donner (born 5 February 1933 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish writer, film director, actor, producer, politician, founder of Finnish Film Archive and a member of the Donner family. He is the son of the linguist Kai Donner. Jörn Donner has for long periods lived and worked in Sweden, and has, among other things, served as director of the Swedish Film Institute. In 1979, he was a member of the jury at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. Internationally Jörn Donner is best known as the producer of Ingmar Bergman's film Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander, 1982). In 1984 the movie won a total of four Academy Awards including the award for best foreign language film, making him to date the only Finn to receive an Oscar. His novel Far och son (Father and Son) won the Finlandia Prize in 1985. Donner has been associated with several different political parties, such as SDP and RKP, and has at different times been a member both of the Finnish parliament and the European Parliament. As of 2007 he was again a member of the Finnish parliament for a short while, after Eva Biaudet resigned to take a position at the OSCE. Donner has suffered from prostate and lung cancers.