Jonas Åkerlund

Director

November 10, 1965 (60 years)

Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Biography

Jonas Åkerlund (born November 10, 1965) is a Swedish film and music video director, and drummer. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. His video for Madonna's song "Ray of Light" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record seven awards at 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year. He more recently directed the video for Britney Spears' 2011 single "Hold It Against Me".

Filmography

6.4

Polar

When a retiring assassin realizes that he is the target of a hit, he winds up back in the game going head to head with a gang of younger, ruthless killers.

6.0

Horsemen

A recently widowed detective still grieving over his wife's death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

6.8

Clark

This is the incredible story behind Sweden's most notorious gangster, Clark Olofsson, whose infamous crimes gave rise to the term "Stockholm Syndrome".

6.8

Lords of Chaos

A teenager's quest to launch Norwegian Black Metal in Oslo in the 1990s results in a very violent outcome.

6.6

Spun

Over the course of three days Ross, a college dropout addicted to crystal-meth, encounters a variety of oddball folks - including a stripper named Nikki and her boyfriend, the local meth producer, The Cook - but all he really wants to do is hook up with his old girlfriend, Amy.

8.5

Taylor Swift: The 1989 World Tour - Live

Filmed in front of 76,000 fans at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia, "The 1989 World Tour Live" captures Taylor Swift's entire performance while also mixing in behind-the-scene, rehearsal, and special guest footage from her 1989 Tour.

5.8

Small Apartments

When a clumsy deadbeat accidentally kills his landlord, he must do everything in his power to hide the body, only to find that the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother, and a crew of misfit characters force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.

6.8

Billy Idol Should Be Dead

Punk legend turned pop sensation Billy Idol bares it all in this electrifying documentary, revealing his rise to fame, battle with addiction and triumphant comeback that captivated millions of fans worldwide.

8.4

Lemonade

The second "visual album" (a collection of short films) by Beyoncé, this time around she takes a piercing look at racial issues and feminist concepts through a sexualized, satirical, and solemn tone.

6.2

Double Dutchess: Seeing Double

A high-art, high-fashion showcase of a star's many personas-and a vivid reminder that our art, not our obstacles, ultimately defines us. Free, focused, and fucking shit up again, it shows every side of Fergie-the superstar, the visual artist, the creative director, the label head, the fashion icon, the wife, and, she'll tell you most importantly, "mom."

8.9

Madonna: The Celebration Tour in Rio

Madonna celebrates her four-decade career in a special concert for over 1.6 million people at the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

8.4

Madonna: The Confessions Tour

Filmed in its entirety at London's Wembley Arena during her worldwide sold-out 25-city Confessions Tour (2006's top-grossing tour world-wide), this concert film features songs from throughout the queen's career but largely focuses on Confessions On A Dance Floor.

N/A

Metallica Saved My Life

From Award-winning director Jonas Åkerlund, “Metallica Saved My Life” explores the world of Metallica through the lives of their fans—including the bandmembers themselves—who have supported each other through highs, lows, trials, and triumphs for over four decades.

9.1

BEYONCÉ

Developed as a "visual album", Beyoncé's songs are accompanied by non-linear short films that illustrate the musical concepts conceived during production. Its dark and intimate subject material includes feminist themes of sex, monogamous love, and relationship issues, inspired by Beyoncé's desire to assert her full creative freedom.

7.8

On the Run Tour: Beyoncé and Jay-Z

Beyoncé and Jay Z perform live in Paris at Stade de France during their 2014 "On the Run Tour."

7.7

Madonna: The Video Collection 93:99

A collection of Madonna's favorite videos from 1993-1999. Contains the 14 videos: Bad Girl, Fever, Rain, Secret, Take A Bow, Bedtime Story, Human Nature, Love Don't Live Here Anymore, Frozen, Ray Of Light, Drowned World, The Power of Goodbye, Nothing Really Matters, and Beautiful Stranger.

6.6

I'm Going to Tell You a Secret

A documentary that follows Madonna on her 2004 Re-Invention World Tour.

5.3

Turn the Page

In this short film, Ginger Lynn Allen plays the night club stripper/prostitute who is trying to raise her 12 year old daughter. We see daily scenes from her daily life. We hear the story both from the daughter's point of view and her mother's. The mother who is over 35 says she always wanted to be rock star. Her daughter indistinctly and unconsciously questions his mother's way of raising her. For instance, she says things sort of "my mother tells me that I should never start smoking but she smokes a lot" while her mother is smoking as her daughter is asleep or "my mother tells me not to watch a lot of TV because there is too much garbage on TV but she just watches TV more than I do." Ginger Lynn Allen's acting is quite good. Her striptease polo dance and the brutal sex she had to suffer at the end of the movie are among the most memorable scenes of the movie. I guess these scenes could have been more careful if the movie had not been shot in documentary-like voice-over.

6.3

Pussy

The Rammstein clip of Pussy

4.0

Roxette Diaries

Everything (and much more) happened to Roxette in the years 1986 and 1995. Hundreds of hours of footage were recorded during the magical years to capture "everything". Follow them into the studio, backstage, at rehearsals and concerts. These are the private videos of one of the greatest bands of all time - directed by Jonas Åkerlund.