· FILM Director ·
Baker Karim
Feature Films, TV-Series & Short Films.
Awards & Festivals
WINNER
Guldbagge Awards
Best Sound Design
The Dog · 2026
NOMINEE
Guldbagge Awards
Best Cinematography
The Dog · 2026
WINNER
AFRIFF Lagos
Globe Award · Best Actor
The Dog · 2024
SHORTLIST
Academy Awards
Live Action Short
Malcolm · 2003
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Cannes
Critics’ Week
Malcolm · 2002
WINNER
Göteborg Film Festival
Best Nordic Short
Malcolm · 2003
WINNER
Marrakech IFF
Special Jury Award
Malcolm · 2002
WINNER
Aarhus Film Festival
Audience Award
Malcolm · 2003
NOMINEE
Guldbagge Awards
Best Short Film
Malcolm · 2003
NOMINEE
Kristallen
Best TV Drama
The Family Babajou · 2010
NOMINEE
Nordic Film Award
Best Nordic Film
Four Women · 2001
Press
“The director’s vision is clear from the opening tracking shot.”
Stanslaus Manthi, Business Daily Africa — on The Dog
Reviews
“Brilliantly directed, and edited.”
The Movie Gourmet — The Dog · Read
“A thriller that, with brilliant performances and a visually striking style, engages and shakes you.”
Jonna Vanhatalo, Moviezine (translated from Swedish) — The Dog · Read
“An intense and gritty action drama set in the underworld of Mombasa.”
Göteborg Film Festival — The Dog · Read
Selected work
Films & Television
Currently in production
The Kid
In production · Feature
A coming-of-age drama about a young adolescent struggling to raise his baby daughter. Written and directed by Baker Karim. A Garagefilm Nordic co-production between Sweden, Norway and Finland.
The Dog
2025 · Feature · Thriller
A gangster love thriller set in Mombasa, Kenya. Three Guldbagge nominations; winner, Best Sound Design.
Glacier
2021 · Feature
The most-watched Viaplay title in Sweden in 2021. Starring Alexander Karim and Lena Endre.
Earthbound
2021 · Short · SVT
The first Afrofuturist Swedish film, commissioned by Sveriges Television. Written and directed by Baker Karim.
The Family Babajou
2009 · TV miniseries · SVT
Semi-autobiographical three-part miniseries, written and directed by Baker Karim.
Fragments of an Unfinished Journey
2005 · Feature
Original title: Det odödliga. Written and directed by Baker Karim.
Swedenhielms
2003 · TV film · SVT
Hjalmar Bergman’s classic comedy, directed for Swedish National Television. With Harriet Andersson, Sven-Bertil Taube and Gustaf Skarsgård.
Malcolm
2002 · Short
SdQ Cannes. Shortlisted for the Oscars. Best Nordic Short.
Four Women
2001 · Feature debut
Original title: Fyra kvinnor. Nominated for the Nordic Film Award.
Coverage
| Okada Media | Q&A with Baker Karim — on The Dog | 2025 |
| Culture Custodian | The Dog as a microcosm of crime and the messiah complex | 2025 |
| Moviezine | Alexander Karim wins at Africa’s largest film festival | 2024 |
| Variety | Camilla Läckberg turns to Kenyan noir with Alexander and Baker Karim | 2024 |
| The Hollywood Reporter | Sweden appoints Baker Karim as film commissioner | 2013 |
| Cineuropa | Cannes 2002: Malcolm at the Semaine de la Critique | 2002 |
Media
The Dog · Official trailer
| Okada Media | Baker Karim on why he made The Dog (video) | 2025 |
| Sharing Sweden | Meet Alexander Karim — on The Dog (video) | 2025 |
| Sveriges Radio | Baker Karim wants a new golden age for Swedish film (in Swedish) | 2013 |
| Sveriges Radio | Call for films on Black Swedish history (in Swedish) | 2014 |
About
Baker Karim attended film school at Los Angeles City College. During his years in Los Angeles, he worked crew at Roger Corman’s Concorde/New Horizons, the B-movie king’s company, and with John Landis on the HBO series Dream On.
His first feature, Four Women, premiered to critical acclaim and received several nominations, among them the Nordic Film Award. He followed it with the short film Malcolm, which was nominated at SdQ Cannes, shortlisted for the Oscars, nominated for a Swedish Academy Award and named Best Nordic Short. His later credits include Swedenhielms, a Hjalmar Bergman special he directed for Swedish National Television. His semi-autobiographical three-part miniseries The Family Babajou, which he wrote and directed, earned him his first TV-Kristallen nomination, the Swedish Emmy.
As Feature Film Commissioner at the Swedish Film Institute, Baker supported the development of a generation of filmmakers and their projects, Tarik Saleh’s The Nile Hilton Incident among the most notable.
In 2021 he directed Glacier, the most-watched Viaplay title in Sweden that year, which he co-produced through Bad Flamingo, the production company he founded with crime writer Camilla Läckberg and actor Alexander Karim. The same year he wrote and directed Earthbound, the first Afrofuturist Swedish film, commissioned by Sveriges Television.
The Dog (Kadzo), a gangster love thriller set in Mombasa, Kenya, opened theatrically in Sweden in 2025. It was nominated for three Swedish Academy Awards (Guldbaggen), including a nomination for Best Cinematography for Baker himself and winning the award for Best Sound Design.
Baker is currently in production on The Kid, a coming-of-age drama he wrote and directs, about a young adolescent struggling to raise his baby daughter. The film is produced by Garagefilm as a Nordic co-production between Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Next, he will direct Jonas, a six-part, 60-minute science fiction time-loop thriller produced by Game of Thrones producer Frank Doelger and starring Alexander Karim. It is based on Alexander Karim’s acclaimed Swedish novel The Extraordinary Tale of Jonas Paulsson’s All Too Sudden Death.
Teaching & Lectures
Lectures
- NYU Tisch School of the Arts
- The National Film School of Denmark
- Stockholm University of the Arts
- Stockholm University
- Konstfack
- Gothenburg Film School
Workshops
Filmmaking workshops in Stockholm, Nairobi, Cape Town and Kampala.
Public lectures
Lectures on film and ideology — critical theory from Althusser to bell hooks.
