GODLAND selected as Iceland's Oscar entry
Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland has been selected as Iceland's entry for the International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.
The selection was made by a jury, formed by the Icelandic Film and Television Academy (IKSA) board. The jury consists of representatives from the leading professional associations in Iceland's film sector, distributors, critics, and the Icelandic Film Centre.
The jury statement is as follows:
Godland is a multifaceted film that challenges the viewer by asking universal questions about the existence and purpose of man in a brave and persistent way.
Set in the late 19th century, it tells the story of Lucas, a young Danish priest who travels to Iceland with a mission: to establish a church and to document the lives of the island's inhabitants. His welcome is harsh. The natural elements are unforgiving and the wild and sparsely populated island eschews any easy categorisation. He does not know how to communicate with the islanders and his attempts to strike up a relationship with Ragnar are thwarted by profound cultural and linguistic barriers. While Lucas sets out to pursue his higher purpose, he is quickly confronted by his own limits and the viewer is invited, with exquisite beauty and sensitivity and, to ponder man’s role in the world as the film pits man against nature and one man's soul against an island's indomitable spirit.
In perfect sync with Pálmason's storytelling, Maria Von Hausswolff's cinematography renders the island's landscape with audacious authenticity and stunning - if unseen - artistry. Through her lens, Iceland's nature emerges as both unyielding and exotic, simultaneously frightening, unwelcoming and wet, yet utterly stunning and captivating without ever becoming sentimental or exaggerated.
Despite delving into serious and daunting themes, "Godland" is punctuated with moments of humor, revealing a profound depth and sensitivity in its storytelling.
The 96th Academy Awards are set for Sunday, March 10, 2024. The nominations will be unveiled on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
Godland is written and directed by Hlynur Pálmason (A White, White Day, Winter Brothers), and stars Elliott Crosset Hove, Ingvar Sigurðsson, Vic Carmen Sonne, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Jacob Hauberg Lohmann, and Hilmar Guðjónsson.
The film is produced by Anton Máni Svansson of Join Motion Pictures, as well as Katrin Pors, Eva Jakobsen, and Mikkel Jersin of Snowglobe in Denmark. Co-producers are Maneki Films from France, Garagefilm and Film i Väst from Sweden. The distribution in the US is handled by Janus Films.
Since the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard 2022, it has collected numerous awards and nominations at leading international film festivals, such as Toronto and Telluride.
The struggle between the strictures of religion and our own brute animal nature plays out amid the beautifully forbidding landscapes of remote Iceland in this stunning psychological epic from director Hlynur Pálmason. In the late nineteenth century, Danish priest Lucas makes the perilous trek to Iceland’s southeastern coast with the intention of establishing a church. There, the arrogant man of God finds his resolve tested as he confronts the harsh terrain, temptations of the flesh, and the reality of being an intruder in an unforgiving land. What unfolds is a transfixing journey into the heart of colonial darkness attuned to both the majesty and terrifying power of the natural world.