Jens Assur

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Jens Assur is Scandinavia’s leading photojournalist. Despite his relatively young age, he was born in 1970, he has dominated Scandinavian photography for more than a decade.

Jens Assur is a regular contributor to major Scandinavian and international magazines. As a 20-year-old, Jens started working as a photographer at Expressen, Scandinavia’s leading daily newspaper, where he soon became known for his uncompromising journalistic ambition to awaken interest and debate. The superior quality of Assur’s work has brought him much acclaim as well as numerous photographic and journalistic awards.

In 1997 Jens began working on the project “Under the Shifting Skies”. This is the largest photographic project ever to be undertaken in Scandinavia. The project was completed in 2001 and comprises two books of 256 pages each and a travelling exhibition with 70 photographic images enlarged to the size 1.3 x 2m. “Under the Shifting Skies” is based on 31 thematic photo reports, each describing a group of people or phenomena that is specific of our times.

In 1999 Assur was contracted by the prestigious American LIFE Magazine to complete a special edition issue in connection with the Olympic Games in Sidney, Australia. Assur’s photo coverage was published in the last ever issue of LIFE Magazine in the summer of 2000. The issue made an instant sell out.

In 2004 Assur wrote and directed his first movie – “The Last Dog in Rwanda” (Den sista hunden i Rwanda). It was produced by Svensk Filmindustri in co-operation with the Swedish public broadcaster SVT and the support of the Swedish Film Institute. The film relates to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and was shot in South Africa and Sweden.

“The Last Dog in Rwanda” (Den sista hunden i Rwanda) is Jens Assur’s debut as both film director and scriptwriter.