Discoveries from Iceland World Cinema

Running with the Herd is a unique and beautiful film. Director Thorfinnur Gudnason and his team bring to life a dramatic tale with sharply defined characters – all of them horses. Stretching the limits of the nature documentary has been Gudnason´s forte and his earlier film, Woodmouse: Life of the Run, has been shown around the world. Here he takes us into the world of horses running wild in the stark but majestic highlands of Iceland. Without humanising the animals in any way, the film tells a story full of drama and emotion, character, danger, and resolve.

Thingvellir actually means “Parliament Grounds”. But extensive scientific research has shown that the Thingvellir area is one of the wonders of the world and is indeed unique. The American plate and the European plate separate exactly at Thingvellir so the area and Lake Thingvallavatn are positioned between two continents. This is shown in detailed video graphic as well as in extensive aerial and close-up shots of the area. At Thingvellir we are standing on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – we can see the ground split, Thingvellir sink and Lake Thingvallavatn grow. In flora and fauna – here is the meeting place of the East and the West. Lake Thingvallavatn is a very young – no more than 10,000 years old. However, four varieties af Arctic Char have evolved in it, and that is a world wonder. The lake is extremely clear which makes the underwater pictures of the Arctic char in their natural habitat very real.

Magnús' life has been colourful, mostly because he is never satisfied with the status quo. In his art he is constantly changing and his interest lies in every field of art. To his mind being an artist is an inner need or compulsion and does not necessarily require being talented at drawing. "Drawing has hardly anything to do with art, no more than anything else. It is more important for að so-called artist to know how to manipulate a microphone like this one".

A very informative and rare documentary about training of rescue dogs. Not to be missed by any dog lover or dog owner who is keen to train.

A news documentary about the "population growth" programme of former Rumanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and the horrific consequences that followed.

A film about Steinn Steinar, a pioneer of modern Icelandic poetry.

A documentary about context in modern painting. A modern painter is shown at his work and an insight given into modern figurative art and its conceptive origins. The film follows the painter Tryggvi Ólafsson at work, both in his homeland, Iceland, and in Denmark where he lives. The account is in part biographical where it helps to analyze an ongoing creative process as it emerges in the work of a mature artist.

A film about the work of Icelandic painter Þorvaldur Skúlason and his views on art.

Made during a period when Iceland was still extending its fisheries' zone, this film deals with the total dependence of Icelanders on the fishing industry. The film is partly based on the author's personal reflections and includes an animated sequence of a T.V. interview with a cod.

Experimental. Bypassers are asked to oblige the film-maker by jumping on the spot.

Jeffrey & Beth is a short film about Jeffrey, a young African American in Iceland that participates in a self-help group with the hope of winning back his girlfriend. The self-help group is managed by Beth, a self-educated, new age therapist that uses strange methods to reach her goals. As the program progresses, Jeffrey has difficulties figuring out if Beth is really trying to help him get what he wants or not.

Isolated people yearn for human contact and connection. Their search leads them to discover something new and unexpected within themselves.

Based on the eponymous short story by Haraldur D Thorvaldsson, Siggi, a young man tries to deal with a world where he does not fit in and where everyone around him seem to be obsessed with carrots, forcing them upon him. An analogy that examines his relationship with love, family and isolation.

Based on a poem from the Icelandic sagas, this film tells of how Thrymur, the king of trolls, stole the hammer of Thor and how Thor got it back.

A Teleplay about the role of women in society.

A young woman goes on holiday to Flatey in Breiðafirði.

The adventures of the world's funniest hypnotist in the coolest place on earth

The Corner Shop is a documentary about one of the last remaining grocery stores in Iceland. Run by two eccentric brothers, it is the glue that keeps the community together.

A documentary about the life of a "famous" bum in Iceland.

Edna Lupita investigates her life with the help of two professional actors who strive to connect her past to her present, her mental illness, and her suicidal thoughts.

This is a personal story of one small woman’s fight to save one of the planet’s largest animals. Lek has saved hundreds of Asian Elephants from abuse, street begging and hardship over the past 20 years. Working from a remote village in Northern Thailand, she continues her dangerous work despite obstacles and death threats. Running this sanctuary, Lek has devoted her life to saving this animal. As experts predict the Asian Elephant faces extinction within four decades, her work is needed now more than ever.

Electrician Atli, his wife María, an astronomer, and their daughter, musician Anna, live in Iceland. María plans a trip with her family into the highlands to photograph a comet she thinks she's discovered. When the day comes, Atli and Anna have made other plans and cannot go with her. That twist of fate upends all their lives and leads them into a different orbit.

Hugleikur Dagsson is a comedian/cartoonist/carnivore from Iceland. In “Son of the Day”, his first English language comedy special, he talks about the sex taboos of Star Wars, the creepiness of Tinder and the plight of gluten intolerants. His comedy stylings have been described as “filthy but friendly”. You have been warned.

Canto III out of XIII

Jón runs a small video lab in Reykjavik, digitizing old recordings to preserve the fading memories of Icelanders. The film offers a glimpse into his world, the stories and evolving technology behind the preservation of media across changing formats.

Áramótaskaup: 2023 , an annual Icelandic TV movie, satirizing the events of the past year

The Sea Baron is a cinema verité-styled documentary set in a restaurant by the old Reykjavík harbour, where the legendary sailor Kjartan Halldórsson, who spent decades cooking at sea on vessels of all sizes, started a fishmarket by himself in an old baiting house. Without obtaining any official permit and due to popular demand, he started cooking too and soon had a lively restaurant which is by now one of the most prosperous in Iceland, with top reviews in the NY Times and international media; one of Reykjavík’s landmarks. Instrumental in this success is Kjartan’s jovial and hospitable character, making every guest feel at home.

This one winter's day encapsulates a thousand years fishing and seamanship in Iceland. We gain an insight into an inner and outer world, where manual labour, man's beliefs in nature, Christianity, superstition and even magic are interwoven. We are questioned if we could imagine how this world of the rowing boat crew, wich reflects the ancient class-divided society, really looked like? How did they percive the nature around them, their God in this nature, it's unstable weather conditions, it's harshness when they go to sea to harvest its riches to make it possible for themselves as well as their nation to keep on living on the edge of the habitable world? Here we are face to face with the very foundation of fishing nation's culture.

Singing at La Scala, the world's most famous opera house and the Mecca for opera lovers, must be every singer's ultimate dream. As the tenor Kristján Jóhannsson sings his first major part on the famous stage, we learn about the man and his career.

A controversial documentary on the struggle of three small nations, Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, for survival in the harsh natural surroundings of the Hight north. The film focuses on forceful campaigns against these nations' economic interests, launched worldwide by international protest groups, such as Greenpeace. It is the traditional utilization of marine mammals, whales and seals, that is opposed bitterly by the protest groups, who usually claim that the hunting methods are inhumane or that the whale stocks face extinction-claims which are rejected outright by scientists.

This documentary film shows the development of the wool industry in Iceland, and the old ways to work the wool, used on Icelandic farms throughout the centuries are demonstrated. In the film, visits are made to modern wool factories and the process of the production is followed from the beginning to the finished product.

Blizzards and crevasses make the motorized journey over the glacier almost as picturesque as the exploration under it. Together these two faces of the glacier make a unique adventure film in an amazing landscape.

The film, which is based on earlier footage taken by Steindór Sigurðsson, Árni Stefánsson & Guðmundur Einarsson, describes the volcanic eruption in Mt. Hekla in 1947/1948.

"Reportage". Images from Berlin with special consideration to the division of the city by the Berlin Wall.

Ragnar, straight out of hospital, orders a taxi-driver around Reykjavik in order to find a three layered chocolate box. He wants to repay a nurse for her good service at the hospital. After each unsuccessful stop at various grocery stores, his daughter, Hrönn, gets increasingly agitated in the back seat of the cab. Tension between father and daughter build to a peak, and it becomes crucial for Hrönn to confront her father for the first time in her life.

A young filmstudent, Haraldur Ari Karlsson, spoke to his teacher, the director Hilmar Oddsson, enthusiastic about making a short about how he experienced his father´s death, at the age of five, and how the event has shaped his life.

The Adventure of Jón and Gvendur is a silent comedy inspired by Charles Chaplin. It is regarded as the first Icelandic feature film as it was directed, written and produced by Loftur Gudmundsson.

In Ófeigsfjord in North-West Iceland the old whetstone has been used to sharpen the knives for five generations. There are still some eccentrics like Pétur Guðmundsson who live on and use the resources as his forefathers have done over the centuries. Here people have lived from the earth’s resources for generations: farming, fishing, collecting birds’ eggs and gathering driftwood.