Iceland review - 2017, Síða 16

Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson is the writer and director of
Heartstone (2016), which took home nine prizes at the Icelandic
Film and Television Awards in February. Aron Már Ingham
Grímsson sat down with the celebrated director to discuss his
films, dreams and the long road which led to success.
Inundated with accolades since its
release, Heartstone is Guðmundur
Arnar Guðmundsson’s first feature
film, following his much-acclaimed short
films Whale Valley and Ártún. Among
Heartstone’s many awards are Best Film,
Best Director, Best Screenplay and
Best Actor at the Icelandic Film and
Television Awards in February. The film
has gone on to screen at a wide range of
festivals—from Venice to Marrakech—
and at the time of writing (early April)
had picked up 27 international awards.
Heartstone is your debut feature film.
It would be fair to say you've gotten off
to a pretty good start! Were you
expecting the film to receive
the acclaim that is has?
I wasn’t really expecting it to win so
many awards, but our goal was to make a
successful film. But it’s still a big surprise
to us, both how many awards we’ve been
getting and also how popular the film has
been among teenagers in Iceland.
I heard that the spark for the story in
Heartstone came to you in a dream
ten years ago. Was it daunting starting
work on something that had been on
your mind for so long?
It was. I wrote the first couple of drafts
ten years ago, but I had to prove myself
as a director and that took a long time.
First trying to get into [film] schools,
and when that didn’t work I was basically
dealing with my insecurity about taking
the first step and making a professional
short film. I was afraid of being judged.
Finally, a friend of mine pushed me.
He’s a director, Rúnar Rúnarsson, and
he kindly told me that some people talk
about doing stuff and other people just
do it, and I had been talking about doing
stuff for a long time.
As you mention, your path to the direc-
tor’s chair wasn’t the standard route,
with you having to learn the ropes
yourself. How did you go
about doing that?
First, I decided to study fine art because
I thought that was an interesting foun-
dation for filmmaking. When I finished,
I spent many years applying—again
and again—to get into film schools. I
think I’ve applied to every school in
Scandinavia and never gotten in! Then
Rúnar offered me to follow him in the
pre-production and shooting for his film
Volcano (2011). That was my first time on
a film set. I learned a lot, watched how he
collaborated with his cinematographer,
after which I felt confident enough to go
and shoot my own stuff in a professional
setup.
Do you think you might be a
different director today if you had
gone to film school?
I think it wouldn’t have been the right fit
for me. When I was in art school, I really
enjoyed having peers but I didn’t always
enjoy having teachers. I like discovering
things my own way and dislike being
told how things should be, especially art.
PHOTOS BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
14 ICELAND REVIEW
DREAMS THAT
MOVIES ARE
MADE OF