SPARROWS wins Special Jury Award at Transilvania International Film Festival
Sparrows, the new feature from writer/director Rúnar Rúnarsson, won the Special Jury Award at the Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Sparrows is in the middle of a strong festival run. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and shortly thereafter won the Golden Shell award for Best Film at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain. It has also won for Best Film in the 1-2 Competition at the Warsaw Internatioanl Film Festival. In total, the film has won 17 international awards.
Sparrows is Rúnarsson's second feature. His first, Volcano, premiered in the Director's Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. His short film 2 Birds (2008) also premiered at Cannes, and his earlier short The Last Farm (2004) was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
In Sparrows, sixteen-year-old Ari, who has been living in Reykjavík with his mother, is suddenly sent back to the remote West Fjords to live with his father. His relationship with his father has become difficult, and his childhood friends have changed. In these seemingly hopeless surroundings, Ari must step up and find his way.
Sparrows stars Atli Óskar Fjalarsson, Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, Rakel Björk Björnsdóttir and Kristbjörg Kjeld. It‘s score was composed by Kjartan Sveinsson and the film was produced by Nimbus Iceland and Pegasus Pictures.
During the Transilvania festival, at a special screening at the Banffy castle in Bontida, composer Bardi Jóhannsson provided musical accompaniment to Swedish/Danish classic Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922), a silent film for which he composed an original score in 2006.
For more information about the Transilvania International Film Festival and its other winners, visit the festival‘s official website.
For more information about Sparrows and its festival wins, visit the Icelandic Film Database.