THE COUNTY and REPLY TO A LETTER FROM HELGA at Les Arcs
Two Icelandic projects – Grímur Hákonarson's The County and Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir's Reply to a Letter from Helga – will participate in the 10th edition of the Les Arcs Film Festival in France, which will be held December 15–22.
In honor of the festival's 10th anniversary, some scenes from The County will be premiered in the Work in Progress section, which invites 15 producers of features in postproduction to present their work in front of industry professionals. Since The County is part of the festival's anniversary celebration, it will not be part of the Work in Progress competition. The County was written and directed by Grímur Hákonarson, produced by Grímar Jónsson of Iceland's Netop Films, and coproduced by Profile Pictures (Denmark), One Two Films (Germany), and Haut et Court (France).
Grímur Hákonarson's award-winning first feature, Rams, was selected as a Work in Progress at Les Arcs in 2014, and also participated in the Coproduction Village in 2013. It went on to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, where it won the Un Certain Regard Prize.
Reply to a Letter from Helga will be participating in this year's Coproduction Village, where it will be one of 20 European projects in development presented to professionals. The Coproduction Village offers directors the chance to expand their networks, and one of the participating projects will win a monetary award.
Reply to a Letter from Helga would be the second feature from director Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir. Her debut feature, The Swan, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017. It has gone on to win Best Film at the Cairo International Film Festival, Best Director at the Kolkata International Film Festival, and Special Mentions at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival in Japan.
Visit Les Arcs Film Festival for further information.