Discoveries from Iceland World Cinema

A documentary programme about the contemporary Icelandic composer Atli Heimir Sveinsson.

A film about a concert tour of the Icelandic pop group Sykurmolarnir (The Sugarcubes) to Japan

This film on breeding behavior of the Arctic Charr contains exceptional underwater footage taken in their natural habitat.

Love and War is a documentary film about the relationships between Icelandic women and foreign soldiers stationed in Iceland during World War II. Directed by Anna Björnsdóttir, the film is based on research by Inga Dóra Björnsdóttir, a Social Anthropologist, and contains color footage shot in Iceland during the war by an American army photographer, Samuel Kadorian. The film consist of interviews with Icelandic women living in Minnesota, Colorado, California, Virgina and Iceland.

The story of Korpúlfsstaðir, a formerly a highly productive dairy farm, now a flourishing cultural center.

A film which shows the traditional rounding up of sheep.

A documentary about the purebred Icelandic horse. All the horses featured in the film come from Kirkjubaer, where some remarkable horse breeding, quite unique in Iceland has been taking place since 1946. The film gives an account of the breeders and their work. The studs are shown in the pasture in different circumstances at all times of the year. Finally, the horses are shown with their riders, both on the race course and in the open, frequently in a magnificent landscape setting.

A film about the Icelandic artist, Leifur Breiðfjörð. He mainly works with glass in his art.

A film about a typical winter season on board an Icelandic fishing boat. The boat, Gunnar Jónsson, starts off from the Westman Islands and is at first mainly engaged in capelin fishing for fishmeal production. When January comes, the men start preparing for the traditional cod fishing period.

A documentary about life in a fishing village showing the people's dependence on the sea (filmed in Ólafsvík).

A film made on the 1100 year anniversary of the settlement of Iceland which gives an overview of Icelandic society and the natural kingdom which Icelanders have made part of their heritage.

Seen through thee eyes of a visitor, Fiskur undir steini describes the limited cultural life of an Icelandic fishing village.

The film is a portrait of the Icelandic sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson, with a significant overview of his life's work.

A film about the region of Mývatn.

Hreggvidur, an old right-winger, dies of a heart attack while trying to publish an article in The Conservative Paper. Hreggvidur has been a regular contributor for decades and he disagrees with the new editorial policy. Thus he rises up from the dead to terrorize the editor into publishing the article.

A 1 min short film about a depressed angel asking for a transfer to St. Peter.

Hemmi is keeping a secret from Anna. She suspects what it is but hopes at the same time that she’s wrong. She decides to confront him, ask him straightforward, no matter what the consequences.

Two years after the mysterious disappearance of their eldest son, Lukasz, an immigrant family is still distraught. Kasia the mother, Tomek the father, and youngest child Patryk cope with their loss.

A tragedy about a poorly raised spaceman from Reykjavík who tries to gain foothold on a distant dream planet and adapt to the lifestyle of the natives.

A promotional film for the Reykjavík district heating. The film blends documentary footage with a narrative adventure following two kids who get lost in the overwhelming industrial environment of the district heating factory.

A piano player is trying to find the one and only true note. He finds it.

The journey of Icelandic trans kayaker Veiga Grétarsdóttir. An expedition beyond transformation.

Hidebound tells of Aron, a young man who is concerned about communications and the human situation in today's society. He decides to conduct an experiment and observes the reactions of other people to it. Through this unique experiment or observations we meet several characters that each tells us a different story about how people respond to a new experience and how they behave under pressure.

In a little Icelandic island, 15 years after a volcanic eruption, the inhabitants remember the events but also their premonitory dreams. Outside, the wind fights with the sea, and the volcano is still fuming. Here, the nature is the master.

A simple sentence can turn your whole world upside down. In an effort to embrace his best friend's homosexuality, Arnar goes to ridiculous lengths, which can only end badly. It's a film about friendship, acceptance - and completely incompetent straight guys coming to terms with unexpected news.

A documentary on the avalanche that took place four days before Christmas 1974 in Neskaupstaður, Iceland.

There is very little information available online on this little gem, the first 'feature-length' film shot exclusively in Iceland by an Icelandic director, the pioneer Loftur Guðmundsson. Director and crew travelled all around the country with the ambitious goal of documenting all the aspects of the local life at the time. Fishing plays an important role (being then, by far, the number one national industry); one can also witness the humble beginnings of 'city-life' in the capital, one of the first (or was it the very first?) cars driving in Iceland, beautiful pastoral shots of farm-lands, ladies posing in the national costume, as well as fighters indulging in the national sport, 'glyma'. The 21st century traveller will be able to recognize a number of landmarks. The images are often naive, genuine, and captivating. In my opinion one of the most valuable Icelandic films. --Ewolve

All she wanted was to do something nice for her better half when he woke up on his birthday. But morning breath won’t be the only problem to be solved. An unerringly accurate and relentlessly honest comedy, brilliantly and unpretentiously acted by director Magnúsdóttir herself. The short film kicks off the TV series by the same name.

Annual TV movie that makes fun of the past year.

A lactose intolerant dairy farmer takes revenge on his overbearing father after being wrongly accused for breaking the milk tank.

Dora has been unemployed for some period of time and she and her family are therefore facing financial difficulties. One day she receives an unexpected offer to become temporary chef on a freezing trawler from Greenland. The ship will leave the port in an hour. She gives her husband and children a goodbye hug and goes on a fishing tour in the north Atlantic with a crew of 24 guys from Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland.

Lúpína is about to play the biggest stage of her career at Iceland Airwaves. This film follows her in the lead-up, the rehearsals, and the work behind the music, showing the progress that makes one big night possible.

A lone space traveller bides his time while waiting for someone to pick him up.

Símon tries confronting the fact that his brother Steinar does not exist.

Permaculture offers a solution to how we grow our own food by designing systems that are highly productive and regenerative. Eat, Grow, Love travels to six countries to explore how these systems can be implemented in different climates and landscapes – ultimately confirming that permaculture can be a solution wherever you are in the world.

A documentary about the Icelandic sculptor, Sigurjón Ólafsson. Shot between 1978-1984, the film shows Mr. Ólafsson making a portrait in clay of the late president of Iceland, Dr. Kristján Eldjárn. The proces is shown almost from the beginning until the sculpture has been moulded into bronze. The film also deals with some of Ólafsson's other work and a visit is paid to the artists's place of birth, Eyrarbakki, a small village on the south west coast of Iceland.

A documentary about a daring climb to the top of Þumall (the Thumb) a mountain in Skaftafellsöraefi district, in the South of Iceland. The preparation of the climbers is shown, as well as their journey through the National Park Skaftafell, towards the root of the mountain. The climb is delayed by the weather, but eventually, Þumall is conquered.

A film about the life and work of the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and his relations with Iceland

A film from the west fjords of Iceland which tells the story of a young students returning from abroad to visit the place in which he was brought up.

Sigga, an Icelandic artist, is performing abroad at a high end party. Afterwards she goes to the hotel bar and runs into an Icelandic flight crew there on a stopover. Sigga decides to party with them with unforeseen consequences.

Gleb is a Russian man who writes colourful letters to Icelandic news media in hopes of getting a job and a wife there. Ten years later, artist Kristján Guðmundsson comes across the letters and finds in them a correspondence with his outlook on life, and that of his comrades in the society of Hreiðar Heimski, and decides to invite Gleb to Iceland.

Tells the story of a young man who falls overboard and seems to be the only survivor of a shipwreck. The first icelandic stop-motion film.

No plot synopsis found anywhere online.