World Film Report: Iceland (December 2009)

Iceland Film Scene – Local:

BUSINESS:
As the year comes to an end, the local scene has been quiet on the surface, but behind the curtains the filmmaking community has been lobbying the authorities to reduce the drastic proposed 34% cut for film funding in the 2010 budget, a measure set to turn the industry upside down. A few days ago The Althingi‘s Budget Committee proposed a minor climbdown; offering a 23% cut, around six times more than the average cut for other arts funding. It seems that the current government doesn‘t have a very high regard for film. Read ICN Editor‘s article on the issue here.

In the cinemas the successful low-budget comedy Jóhannes (pic) ended its run in early December, with over 35.000 admissions, placing it among the most popular films of the year. Family comedy The Big Rescue did also very well with similar numbers. In spite of strong critical approval, the Christmas-themed December didn‘t do too well at the box office, with admissions still in the four figure range.

UPCOMING FILMS:
Two eagerly awaited films will appear at Christmas and year‘s end; Ragnar Bragason‘s Mr. Bjarnfredarson and Fridrik Thór Fridriksson‘s Mamma Gógó. The former, a culmination of Iceland’s most popular TV series ever, The Night Shift, The Day Shift and The Prison Shift, stars Jón Gnarr, Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon and Jörundur Ragnarsson. Mr. Bjarnfredarson is a darkly comic redemption story spanning almost fifty years, with emphasis on Georg (Gnarr), an over educated know-it-all, that has just been released from jail, but is still a prisoner of his own past. Huge box-office figures are expected. Check out the trailer here.

The buzz on the latter film is that it‘s a fantastic return to form by veteran Fridrik Thór Fridriksson. Using elements of his own life as a point of departure, Mamma Gógó deals with a struggling director who’s just released an unsuccessful movie and at the same time has to deal with his mother’s alzheimer’s condition. Film stars Hilmir Snær Gudnason (see header pic) and Kristbjörg Kjeld. Ari Kristinsson, Fridriksson’s longtime collaborator, returns as Director of Photography. The trailer is here.

Further away is Dagur Kári‘s The Good Heart, starring Brian Cox and Paul Dano. The film has been doing the festival rounds and has been picked up by Magnolia Pictures stateside and by Le Pacte in France. Rollout in cinemas is expected early next year. For a quick lookcheck out a scene from the film here.

ONLINE:
Erlendur Sveinsson’s one of a kind documentary from 1997; Give Us This Day (Íslands þúsund ár) describes one day in the life of Icelandic fishermen, pre-industrialisation, and shows us the methods of catching fish from the treacherous Icelandic waters, as it was practised for centuries. Click here to view the entire film with subtitles.

One of the most interesting Icelandic musicians of the younger generation, Ólafur Arnalds, is now a subject of a new documentary by The Icelandic Film School graduate Gunnar B. Gudbjörnsson, called The Sky May Be Falling, But the Stars Look Great on You. The film (which you can view online) follows Arnalds on tour in 2008, starting at Iceland Airwaves and then across Britain. 

Iceland Film Scene – Abroad:

HBO has bought the US rights to Fridrik Thór Fridriksson’s documentary The Sunshine Boy and plans to screen it April 2nd next year, followed by an extensive 70 cities release. Additionally, HBO intends to mount a campaign for the film for the upcoming Academy Awards, with support from TV personality Rosie O’Donnell and actress Kate Winslet, who provided the film’s narration.

The screenplay Z for Zachariah by Nissar Modi, based on Robert C. O’Brien’s famous dystopian novel from 1973, has made Franklin Leonard’s The Black List this year. The project has been in development at Zik Zak Filmworks, in joint partnership with filmmaker Páll Grímsson. 

Academy-Award winning director Mel Gibson visited Iceland last year with his two sons, as widely reported in the Icelandic media at the time. It now seems that the trip was in part location scouting or a field research for the director’s next film, as news is out that Mr. Gibson will direct and Leonardo DiCaprio will star in an untitled period drama set in the world of Viking culture.

Three shorts have picked up four awards at festivals in the recent weeks; Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Anna won the Jury Grand Prize at The 32nd Rencontres Henri Langlois International Film Schools Festival in Poitiers France; Hope by young filmmaker Pétur Már Pétursson won third prize at the REClimate film competition, held during the run up to the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen; and Mommy Knows Best by Bardi Gudmundsson was recently selected Best Short at The Hamburg International Lesbian and Gay Film festival – Querbild. A few days later the film received the Audience Prize at The Madrid Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Music by Sigur Rós provides the bulk of the score of the new family drama, The Boys Are Back, from Shine director Scott Hicks, starring Clive Owen. The soundtrack features seven Sigur Rós songs, primarily from their 2008 album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, as well as Indian Summer from Jónsi & Alex’s Riceboy Sleeps project. The film received a modest release Stateside and will open here early next year.

The End, an installation piece by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, recently on display at The Venice Biennale, will be presented as a part of the 2010 edition of New Frontier at Sundance Film Festival. The programme, a collection by thirteen international artists of digital art, film screenings, multimedia performances, site-specific installations and video presentations will be presented in a fully immersive media lounge environment for Festival goers to experience throughout the Festival.

Ásgrímur Sverrisson is the editor of Iceland Cinema Now.