The 36 year old filmmaker Tarik Saleh has joined the Broad of Directors of the Swedish Film Institute. His position started on January 1, 2008.
The Egyptian-Swedish Saleh who started his career as graffiti artist in Stockholm, is one of the founders of the Swedish production house Atmo set up in 2000. Together with his partner Erik Gandini, he directed the much acclaimed documentary film Gitmo-the New Rules of War in 2005.
Saleh is currently working on a new animated feature project for adults, Metropia co-produced by Zentropa (Denmark), Tordenfilm (Norway), SVT, Film i Väst, and Sandrew Metronome, with support from the Swedish and Danish Film Institutes, The Norwegian Film Fund, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Canal+ and Eurimages. The film will be ready in spring 2009.
Another new SFI board member was appointed by the Swedish government late December: Staffan Truvé, managing director of Interaktiva Institutet and Swedish Institute of Computer Science.
Both Saleh and Truvé are replacing the out-going board members Kristen Dalgaard and Jasenko Selimovic. The whole Board of directors (including as well Håkan Tidlund, Göran de Rées, Bertil Sandgren, Eva Swartz, Astrid Söderbergh Widding, Lars Weiss, and Annakarin Wolsberg) have been reconfirmed until December 31, 2010.