Iceland

Cannes Film Festival 2024: ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT & WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS
Cannes Film Festival 2024: ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT & WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS

From Cannes Film Festival Wilson Kwong reviews Payal Kapadia’s Grand Prix winning All We Imagine as Light and Rúnar Rúnarsson’s When the Light Breaks.

BEAUTIFUL BEINGS: Angry and Aimless
BEAUTIFUL BEINGS: Angry and Aimless

While Beautiful Beings is well-intentioned and certainly emotionally resonant in parts, it stops short of having a lasting emotional effect.

LAST AND FIRST MEN: Hauntingly Prescient Science-Fiction
LAST AND FIRST MEN: Hauntingly Prescient Science-Fiction

An elegy not just for the human race but for the great artist that brought it to the screen, Last and First Men is a striking meditation on mortality.

Queerly Ever After #60 JITTERS (2010)
Queerly Ever After #60: JITTERS (2010)

Queerly Ever After #60 focuses on Baldvin Zophoníasson’s Icelandic film Jitters, a teen drama filled with first crushes and tragic events.

THE COUNTY A Fight By The Farmers, For The Farmers
THE COUNTY: A Fight By The Farmers, For The Farmers

Grímur Hákonarson’s The County follows an Icelandic widowed farmer as she fights beauracratic corruption and injustice.

ECHO: An Icelandic Christmas Movie From The Aether
ECHO: An Icelandic Christmas Movie From The Aether

While it doesn’t give its audience straightforward answers, Echo offers a kind of diagonal empathy that’s refreshing and valuable.

Anchored by Sigurdsson’s striking performance, A White, White Day explores the aftermath of a life and a marriage with an intensely introspective eye.
A WHITE, WHITE DAY: Grief Amid The Fog & Frost

Anchored by Sigurdsson’s striking performance, A White, White Day explores the aftermath of a life and a marriage with an intensely introspective eye.

WOMAN AT WAR: A Strikingly Original Take On The Hero’s Journey

A movie mirror-image to last year’s First Reformed, Woman at War is a strikingly beautiful story of one woman’s desire to do good.

AND BREATHE NORMALLY: An Intelligent, Low-key Drama
AND BREATHE NORMALLY: An Intelligent, Low-key Drama

A film that is extremely competently made, it’s easy to understand why And Breathe Normally was praised so highly at Sundance

London Film Festival: ARCTIC Director Joe Penna Talks Working With Mads Mikkelsen, Shooting In Iceland & His Transition From YouTube

We spoke with Joe Penna, director of the upcoming survival film starring Mads Mikkelsen called Arctic, about shooting in island and his transition from Youtube.

Interview With Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir On Her First Feature THE SWAN
Interview With Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir On Her First Feature THE SWAN

We spoke with Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir about her directorial debut, The Swan, and discussed its darker scenes.

THE SWAN: A Surreal Journey Down The Rabbit Hole Of Adulthood
THE SWAN: A Surreal Journey Down The Rabbit Hole Of Adulthood

In the sea of stellar coming-of-age films that have recently been released, The Swan’s beautiful blend of human drama and magical realism is still unique enough to stand out.

UNDER THE TREE: Jet-black Icelandic Comedy Where the Laughs Are Lost in Translation
UNDER THE TREE: Jet-black Icelandic Comedy Where The Laughs Are Lost In Translation

With a failure to properly establish the story, is a black comedy that is consistently frustrating and close to devoid of any laughs.

RIFT: Strangers By The Mountain
RIFT: Strangers By The Mountain

The accomplished acting, stunning cinematography, and solid direction keeps Rift constantly engaging and steeped with talent, absolving it of its genre short-comings.

Rams
RAMS: Far More Than A Quirky Sheep-Farming Comedy

Iceland is slowly becoming one of the planet’s leading cinematic nations, with many directors realising that the country’s desolate landscape is the perfect fit for sci-fi. Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott have both shot there recently, whereas the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was filming there last autumn.