Marianne Ahrne has been appointed as the new film commissioner at the Swedish Film Institute, in charge of supporting feature films for the state's film funding body.

The 63 year-old veteran of the Swedish film industry has worked as both director, writer and editor since the 1970s after graduating from the national film school (Svenska Filminstitutets Filmskola) in 1969.

'After a life where I have had almost all my dreams come true, I look forward to helping others realise theirs,' Ahrne said in a statement. 'I am open to most things, it doesn't depend on genre, gender or whatever trend is hot at the moment.'

Ahrne replaces Lena Hansson Varhegyi, who moved to a similar position as feature film consultant at the Danish Film Institute in September.

Marianne Ahrne won a Swedish Film Award, the Guldbagga, for her 1976 feature Near And Far Away and among her other directing credits are The Walls Of Freedom (1978) and most recently Girls, Women - And Once In A While A Dragon (1997) and Five Past Twelve (2000).

She has also published a number of books since 1980. Her latest, I Have Heard The Camels Sing, comes out next year.