Joachim Trier (Norwegian: [ˈjùːɑˌkɪm ˈtɾìːəɾ]; YOH-kim TREE-er; born 1 March 1974) is a Norwegian filmmaker. His films have been described as "melancholy meditations concerned with existential questions of love, ambition, memory, and identity." He has received numerous accolades, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award accepted for Best International Film, as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, four BAFTAs, two Golden Globe Awards, and two César Awards.
He is best known for his Oslo trilogy which comprises the films Reprise (2006), Oslo, August 31st (2011), and The Worst Person in the World (2021), which was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay at the 94th Academy Awards. He is also known for Louder Than Bombs (2015), Thelma (2017) and The Other Munch (2018). For Sentimental Value (2025), he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director at the 98th Academy Awards.
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Early life and education
Trier was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish father and a Norwegian mother, and raised in Oslo, Norway. His father, Jacob Trier, was the sound technician of The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, a notable film produced in Norway in 1975. His grandfather was Erik Løchen, artistic director of Norsk Film from 1981 to 1983 and also a filmmaker and screenwriter known for such experimental work as his 1972 film Remonstrance, which was constructed so that its five reels could be shown in any order, rendering 120 possible versions of its radical story of a film crew trying to make a political film.
As a teenager, Trier was a skateboarding champion who shot and produced his own skateboarding videos. He studied at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark and at the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom.
Trier holds both Norwegian and Danish citizenship.
Career
2000–2006: Early work
Trier started his career writing and directing short films. His early short films include Pietà (2000) and Still (2001). After graduating from National Film and Television School Trier directed the short film Procter, a thriller revolving around a man who watches a suicide on a videotape and investigates the mystery surrounding the incident. The film premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival where he gained prominence winning the Best British Short Award. Ellen Margrethe Sand of Verdens Gang praised Trier, writing, "[He] utilises the scarcely allotted time and his film medium to the last drop". The short would also earn nominations for the European Film Award for Best Short Film and the Amanda Award in Norway.
Trier's debut film, Reprise, is about two aspiring writers and their volatile relationship. Released by Miramax in 2006, it received Norway's top film awards, the Amanda Award and the Aamot Statuette. Internationally, it won awards at film festivals in Toronto, Istanbul, Rotterdam, Milan, and Karlovy Vary. Trier was named one of Variety's "10 Directors to Watch" in 2007.
2011–present: Breakthrough and acclaim
Trier gained prominence for his Norwegian drama film Oslo, August 31st (2011). His sophomore effort as a director, the film revolves around a day in the life of Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie), a recovering drug addict who catches up with old friends in Oslo. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. The film is considered to be an adaptation of the Pierre Drieu La Rochelle novel Will O' the Wisp (1931) and Louis Malle's The Fire Within (1963). It received critical acclaim and awards and was featured on several critics' 2012 Top 10 lists. A.O. Scott of The New York Times declared it a "perfectly linear story that bristles with suspense and ambiguity".
Trier was named as one of the jury members for the Cinéfondation and short film sections of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In 2015, Trier directed the English-language film Louder Than Bombs, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne, and Isabelle Huppert. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it received positive reviews with acclaim for its leading performance from Huppert. His fourth feature, the supernatural horror-romance Thelma, screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. Andrew Barber of Variety praised the film describing it as an, "unnervingly effective slow-burn, and those with the patience for Trier's patient accumulation of detail will find it pays off in unexpected ways." It was selected as the Norwegian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, held in 2018.
In 2018, together with his brother Emil, he co-directed a 55-minute documentary, The Other Munch. It covered writer Karl Ove Knausgård and museum curator Kari Brandtzæg curating Towards the Forest, an exhibition of paintings by Edvard Munch at Oslo's Munch Museum. Trier and Knausgård visit locations from Munch's life, discuss his works, themes, obsessions, and process. The Trier brothers connect Knausgård's unorthodox interpretation of Munch to Knausgård's literary works, in a portrait of both artists. Knausgård stated "When I was invited to curate the exhibition, I proposed that we make a film to coincide with it." Also in 2018, Trier served as the Jury President of the Critics' Week section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
In June 2018, Trier was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Influences
In 2012, Trier participated in the Sight & Sound critics' poll where he listed his 10 favorite films in alphabetical order:
In 2022, Trier participated in the poll as a filmmaker, swapping in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (2010) for the Bresson entry.
Personal life
Trier is married to Helle Bendixen Trier and has two daughters, Emma and Evie.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Directed Academy Award performancesUnder Trier's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations for their performances in their respective roles.