Four Icelandic films at Busan – world premiere for MIHKEL
A total of four Icelandic films have been selected for the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, which will take place October 4–13. The four are Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon’s Mihkel; Baldvin Z’s Let Me Fall; Benedikt Erlingsson’s Woman at War; and the US/Icelandic coproduction Arctic, which was directed by Joe Penna.
Mihkel will have its world premiere in the festival’s World Cinema section.
In the film, Mihkel and Veera dream of moving from their home in Estonia to Iceland. Events take an unexpected turn and Mihkel dies a painful death in Iceland, betrayed by his oldest friend, Igor.
Mihkel was written and directed by Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon. It was produced by Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, Kristinn Thordarson, Leifur B. Dagfinnsson, and Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon and coproduced by Estonians Evelin Soosar-Penttilä and Riina Sildos, Norwegian Egil Ødegård, and Icelanders Jörundur Rafn Arnarson and Jóhann G. Jóhannsson.
Let Me Fall will also screen in the World Cinema section, where it will have its Asian premiere. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6.
Synopsis: When 15-year-old Magnea meets Stella, everything changes. Stella’s no-holds-barred lifestyle drags them both into a world of drugs, which brings serious consequences for each of them, and their relationship. Twelve years later their paths cross again, and a reckoning between them becomes unavoidable.
Woman at War will screen in the World Cinema section as well, where it will have its Korean premiere. It is also playing at Toronto and had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won four awards in Critics’ Week, including the SACD Award for Best Screenplay. The film was recently nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize and the European Parliament’s LUX Prize.
The film tells the story of Halla, an independent woman in her late 40s who declares war on the local aluminium industry. She’ll risk anything to protect the Icelandic highlands, until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life.
Arctic will screen in the Midnight Passion section, where it will have its Asian premiere. The film had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screenings section.
Arctic is about a man who is stranded in the Arctic and awaiting rescue. After a tragic accident, the opportunity for rescue is lost, and the man must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or embark on a deadly trek through the unknown in order to save himself.
The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, with María Thelma Smáradóttir in a supporting role. It was shot by Tómas Örn Tómasson and coproduced by Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir, Snorri Thórisson, and Einar Sveinn Thórdarson for the Icelandic production company Pegasus Pictures. Much of the film’s crew were Icelanders. Arctic was shot entirely in Iceland and thus received a 25% reimbursement of production costs through Iceland’s reimbursement scheme.