Ten Icelandic film projects at Nordisk Panorama
A total of ten Icelandic film projects will participate in this year's Nordisk Panorama. Five films will compete for the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival Awards, three projects will take part in the Nordisk Panorama Forum, and two projects will pitch in the Nordic Short Film Pitch.
Nordisk Panorama is a Nordic documentary and short film festival. The Nordisk Panorama Market and Nordisk Panorama Forum are held annually at the same time, along with seminars, lectures and many other events. The 31st edition of the festival takes place with a mix of online screenings and in-person events in Malmö, Sweden from September 17 - 27.
Films in the festival
As Iceland gets ready for Christmas, a peculiar atmosphere settles over the country. An abandoned farm is burning, a children's choir sings Christmas carols, chicken carcasses parade through a slaughterhouse, a museum employee is arguing on the phone, a young girl makes her mother try on her new virtual-reality headset… In 56 discrete scenes, Echo draws a portrait, both bitter and tender, of modern society.
Director/Screenwriter Rúnar Rúnarsson
Producers Live Hide, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir Rúnar Rúnarsson
Coproducers Sarah Chazelle, Etienne Ollagnier, Dan Wechsler, Jamal Zeinal-Zade, Jim Stark, Igor Nola
Production companies Nimbus Iceland, Pegasus Pictures
Coproduction companies Jour2Fête, Bord Cadre Films, Media Rental
Iceland
2019, 79 min., DCP
International sales
Jour2Fête (sales@jour2fete.com)
More than a thousand autumns ago, humans arrived with their animals to a land pushed up against the Arctic Ocean. Autumns came and autumns went. Where the road ends, Úlfar, the last in a long line of farmers, lives with his wife. As autumn returns their grandchildren arrive from the city to attend the last herding of the flock. Next autumn farming will cease and all the sheep will be gone, but the landscape pushed up against the Arctic Ocean will continue to tell about that one Last Autumn.
Director Yrsa Roca Fannberg
Producers Hanna Björk Valsdóttir, Yrsa Roca Fannberg
Production companies Akkeri Films, Biti Aptan Bædi
Iceland
2019, 78 min., DCP
Sales contact
Hanna Björk Valsdóttir (hannabjork@gmail.com)
It's a spring morning in Reykjavík. A man and a woman wake up in their bed and know that their relationship has ended. They take a drive out of the city, towards the end of love, perhaps toward the end of the world. A story of love, loss, and the mysterious power of nature herself.
Director/Screenwriter Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir
Producers Birgitta Björnsdóttir, Adelina von Fürstenburg
Production companies Vintage Pictures, Art for the World
Cast Hera Hilmar, Thor Kristjánsson
Genre Drama
Iceland
2020, 12 min., DCP
Sales contact
Birgitta Björnsdóttir (birgitta@vintagepictures.is)
Trausti the lighthouse keeper prepares for his 100th birthday and/or funeral while trying to reconnect with the elf within. Meanwhile, Hulda retreats into a world of poetry with the help of an electric magnifying glass. When Trausti starts singing, Hulda tells him to stop screaming. In this world, life is celebrated, despite the reality that awaits us all in the end.
Director/Screenwriter Jón Bjarki Magnússon
Producers Jón Bjarki Magnússon, Hlín Ólafsdóttir
Production company SKAK Bíófilm
Iceland
2020, 65 min., DCP
International sales
Feelsales (info@feelsales.com)
One morning an eclectic mix of people face the everyday battle - such as work, school and dish-washing. As the day progresses, their relationships are tested and ultimately their capacity to cope.
Director/Screenwriter Gísli Darri Halldórsson
Producers Arnar Gunnarsson, Gísli Darri Halldórsson
Production company Caoz
Cast Helga Braga Jónsdóttir, Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir, Jón Gnarr, Kristján Franklín, Sigurdur Sigurjónsson, Thor Kristjánsson
Genre Animation
Iceland
2020, 8 min., DCP
Sales contact
Gísli Darri Halldórsson (gislidarri@gmail.com)
Projects in the Forum
Nordisk Panorama Forum is the annual meeting place and funding event for Nordic documentary professionals, looking to connect with a variety of Nordic and international decision-makers from TV, film institutes and regional film funds.
The Icelandic projects participating in Nordisk Panorama Forum are as follows:
Pitch project
The make-or-break story of an Icelandic female band that probably won't make it and isn't really a band.
Director/Screenwriter Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir
Producers Heather Millard, Thórdur Jónsson
Coproducer Andreas Kask
Production company Compass Films
Coproduction company Nafta Film
Iceland/Estonia
Contact Compass Films (info@compassfilms.is)
Pitch project
In Iceland, within the walls of the world's smallest Catholic diocese, led by the Dutch Montfort order, a great tragedy was kept under wraps for decades. Cracks began to form in these walls in 2008 after a German Catholic school teacher in Reykjavík was found dead on the children's playground.
Director Ísold Uggadóttir
Screenwriter Margrét Örnólfsdóttir
Producers Kristín Andrea Thórdardóttir, Hlynur Sigurdsson
Coproducer Gunnthórunn Jónsdóttir
Production company Skot Productions
Iceland
Contact Kristín Andrea Thórdardóttir (kristinandrea@skot.is)
Observer+ project
The filmmaker's grown, adopted son, Isac, locates his birth mother in Sri Lanka, but it turns out she's blind. After eye surgery she's able to see her son for the first time in 33 years. The eye becomes a strong metaphor for our different views of our lives and circumstances. This is a story that starts where most adoption stories end.
Director/Screenwriter Helgi Felixson
Producer Helgi Felixson
Production company Iris Film
Coproduction company Felix Film
Iceland/Sweden
Contact Helgi Felixson (helgi@felixfilm.se)
Nordic Short Film Pitch
The aim of the Nordic Short Film Pitch is to make short filmmakers from the Nordic countries meet, exchange experiences and find partners for potential future collaborations and co-productions. Simultaneously they meet international industry decision makers to expand their network.
The Icelandic projects participating in the Nordic Short Film Pitch are as follows:
Chasing Birds by Una Lorenzen
A hand-drawn animated film about a parallel universes; a long square with four groups of people who all live separate realities around it.
Director/Screenwriter Una Lorenzen
Producers Heather Millard, Thórdur Jónsson
Coproducer Galilé Marion-Gauvin
Production company Compass Films
Coproduction company Unité Centrale
Genre Animation
Iceland/Canada
Contact Heather Millard (heather@compassfilms.is)
We the Lightnings by Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
Núa burns through her last drops of gasoline to get to a peaceful pocket in nature at the end of the road, where powerhouses – musicians, artists, mystics, and poets in various stages of meltdown – have gathered to recharge.
Director/Screenwriter Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
Producer Hlín Jóhannesdóttir
Coproducer Davíd Alexander Corno
Production company Ursus Parvus, Powernap Productions
Coproduction company Nýr kafli
Iceland
Contact Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir (kirakira@this.is)