Backyard by Árni Sveinsson, a lively portrayal of the current Reykjavik music scene, took the audience prize at the fourth Skjaldborg Documentary Festival (May 21-24). Over twenty new Icelandic documentaries were screened in addition to three docs by Faroese director Katrin Ottarsdóttir, the festival’s guest of honour. A record number of guests descended on the Patreksfjördur fishing village in the northwest of Iceland this year to enjoy a unique blend of documentaries, nature and seafood feasts.
Though set apart by more than just a letter, the similarities are many between Iceland and Ireland. However, the differences just got bigger. Here's the how and why.…
It's high time to select the best Icelandic movie poster of the decade. I have pre-selected the top thirteen, see above and further below (click on any image for slideshow). If you want to check out the other posters, you can pop over to this page for a…
THE ICN INTERVIEW: Ólafur H. Torfason, the new chairman of The Film Board. Veteran film critic Ólafur H. Torfason was recently appointed the chairman of The Film Board, whose role is to give advice and make proposals to the Minister of Culture about public policy and objectives in matters of…
The government has some explaining to do. How come it proposes a 34% cut in film funding, while only suggesting an average 4% cut in other arts funding, with none going above 6%? Yes, filmmakers are well aware of the dire financial straits we’re in. As a matter of fact,…
Recently I was interviewed by Ben Hopkins at Iceland On Screen about the nature of film criticism in Iceland and how the local film industry has developed during the last thirty years, or since regular film production began in Iceland. The interview follows (check out Ben’s excellent site here).…
