Popular From Iceland

Brynhildur is excited; the 12-year-old has a good chance of getting a solo part in the choir for her class Christmas concert. If only it weren’t for Silja, who is making Brynhildur’s life difficult with her bullying. Even though Brynhildur hasn’t done a thing to provoke Silja. It’s not until she gets up the courage to talk to her father about it that Brynhildur begins to understand what’s behind Silja’s behaviour. At her father’s suggestion, Brynhildur invites the entire class to her birthday party. She sees it as a possible way to win sympathy from Silja and become friends with her. But the plan appears to fail – Silja organises a competing party!

“Just Like a Painting by Eggert Pétursson” is a documentary on the painter Eggert Pétursson. In moraines near Skaftafell Glacier and close to the Arctic Circle at Tröllaskagi peninsula we discover the film’s dynamic cornerstone on our trip through the Highlands. Our guide is botanist Thóra Ellen Thórhallsdóttir, who connects the dots between our experience of the Icelandic nature and the floral diversity of Eggert’s flower paintings. Eggert is a conceptual artist with a realistic vision of form and structure, but the imagination is tied to interpretation and his own sense of painting. From his book of sketches, surrounded by a musical ode to Mother Nature, the flora’s perseverance and complexity matches the world of the painting while emphasizing the coexistence of these two worlds.

Young couple Anna and Gunnar live in a society where people are assigned a new spouse in a lottery every seven years. Full of heartache, the couple faces their biggest fear in the face of life with a new partner.

The widow has inherited half of the farm, and is in league with a businessman from the village, who wants to buy the farm. Her purpose is to get her in-laws to sell her their share, and she is prepared to use any means to gain her ends. But soon she finds herself threatened by unknown persons or forces in the menacing winter landscape, to the point where her life is at stake.

Seeking shelter from the trials and tribulations of city life, Hugi has built a quiet existence for himself in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Here, he passes his days jogging, attending AA meetings and taking Portuguese lessons online. But when Hugi’s estranged, boozy father shows up out of the blue, the precarious balance he has worked so hard to achieve is tested to the limit.

After a heartbreaking split with his girlfriend, acting student Angantýr goes through various stages of grief while preparing for his final stage performance of the semester.

It’s now 40 years since the end of the Cod Wars between Britain and Iceland. During the 1950s and 60s, Britain consumed 430,000 tons of cod each year, but as the stocks started to diminish the livelihoods of fishing communities in both countries were at stake. Iceland took steps to protect their fishing industry - the mainstay of their economy - resulting in the three so-called Cod Wars. This was a David and Goliath struggle, where the small fleet of Icelandic gunboats were pitted against the British trawlers and the Royal Navy in the North Atlantic. This Icelandic film, made in 2001, tells the story from both sides and reflects on the impact of the Cod Wars in Grimsby and Hull.

When Peter is called to work on his day-off a chain of events starts to unravel that effect him and the people around him.

When a young pedantic daughter is at work, her mother transforms into a passionate dancer, using their overfilled flat as a stage. A heartwarming comedy about prejudice, self-respect and dreams fulfilled.

Robert T. Edison was born and raised in Nottingham, England. When he was fourteen years old he began to practice Buddhism. Eighteen years old he became a monk and went to Thailand where, for a decade, he spent his time in monasteries around the country. He became the first Buddhist monk in Iceland when he moved here in 1994 and founded a Buddhist sect. Five years later Robert decided to "derobe" and get married. After sixteen years of celibacy Robert had to deal with being "normal" - getting employment, paying his bills and dealing with the needs of his partner. After four years in "the real world" Robert travelled back to Thailand to become a monk again. Act Normal is filmed from 1994 to 2006 and is a unique exploration of one man´s twelve-year search for some kind of love.

Senior citizens Hófí and Pétur feel discarded by a system that has no use for them. They're tired of living in a poorly retirement home and plan to rob a bank to finally buy a place for themselves. Standing in their way are both hardened criminals and inept cops, but these are the most sly seniors around and they're going to show everyone that you can still teach and old dog new tricks...

A lyrical documentary on the miraculous lifespan of the North-Atlantic Salmon. Shot in pristine Iceland in and around one of the few rivers in the World that are home to the migrating Salmon and have not been manipulated in any way. No dams - no salmon fry stocked by man - everything in the river regarding the Salmon is untouched by man. In these unspoiled conditions the filmmakers shot hundreds of hours over a period of more than two years. Now the fruit of their labor is in your hands - prepare to immerse in the beautiful world of the North-Atlantic Salmon. Be one with this magnificent creature - swim with the Salmon - die with the Salmon and experience the rebirth through the next generation of the King of fishes.

It is the night before Christmas and all through the decrepit school house nothing is stirring, not even a mouse. Well that is not exactly the truth, but what has happened in this weather beaten building in the barren Icelandic tundra is more akin to cruel fantasy than stark reality. A few days ago the participants of an experimental rehab clinic came there in order to cast out their inner demons, stay away from temptation and finally discover a little about their sober selves. That didn’t go quite according to plan, but they discovered Santa was real.

The film deals with four men who rob a bank to pay tens of millions of debts one of them to Iceland's most dangerous man, Gulla's car dealership. To help Arnari out of the pinch, his three friends decide to help him rob robbery, gripped and armed. What could possibly go wrong?

A photographer travels along the south coast of Iceland in an attempt to capture an undying image of the lighthouse in Hrolllaugseyjum. As he battles the forces of nature his journey falls apart while death waits around the corner.

Gunna is driving a lonely mountain road when she suddenly runs out of gas. Luckily she sees a car parked a little further by the roadside. Clueless, she doesn´t notice that Jon, the driver, is planning a suicide, but asks him for help. Their acquaintance leads to a new turn of events.