Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.06.2019, Side 3

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. júní 2019 • 3
Stefan Jonasson
Wayward Heroes: A
Survey of Modern
Icelandic Cinema,
is currently running in
Vancouver, BC, at The
Cinematheque, 1131 Howe
Street in the heart of the city.
Screenings of ten different
Icelandic films were scheduled
to begin on June 13 and will
continue until June 28.
“In May 2015, the usually
jaundiced industry audiences
at Cannes were surprised and
invigorated by Rams, a drama
set in a remote rural area of
Iceland and directed by the
effectively unknown Grímur
Hákonarson,” writes Steve
Gravestock, who is the senior
Canadian and International
programmer at the Toronto
International Film Festival
and author of A History of
Icelandic Film. “For many,
Rams was a revelation, and
one that naturally invited a
bewildered question: How is it
that a remotely located nation
of 300,000 people – a country
where sheep outnumber
humans three to one, and
which in its peak years of
film production made only
ten fiction features – could
produce such a remarkable
piece of cinema?”
Although Wayward Heroes
doesn’t directly answer Steve
Gravestock’s how, it does
showcase the diversity and
quality of Icelandic cinema.
“The ten films in this series
– ranging from magic-realist
fables to bloody Viking epics,
sardonic deadpan comedies
to hard-boiled Nordic noirs –
offer a snapshot survey of that
remarkable evolution from the
’80s to today.”
Children of Nature
by director Friðrik Þór
Friðriksson, a lyrical “road
movie” featuring two
“geriatric rebels-without-a-
cause” who make a last-ditch
effort to claim their freedom,
will be shown on Thursday,
June 13, 7:00 p.m., and
Monday, June 17, 8:20 p.m.
“When elderly Þorgeir and
Stella, sweethearts in their
youth, rediscover each other
in a Reykjavík retirement
home, they decide to flee the
facility together and head for
the rugged northern territory
of their childhoods.”
Jar City by director
Baltasar Kormákur, based
on crime novelist Arnaldur
Indriðason’s work, will be
shown on Thursday, June
13, 9:00 p.m., and Saturday,
June 15, 6:30 p.m. The story
follows the investigation of
detective Erlendur, who is
brought in to explore “a typical
Icelandic murder: bloody and
pointless,” while a parallel
story unfolds featuring, Örn, a
pathologist, who is searching
for the cause of his own
daughter’s hereditary and
incurable disease.
Under the Glacier, Guðný
Halldórsdóttir’s screen adapt-
ation of the novel by her
father, Halldór Laxness, is
being shown on Friday, June
14, 6:30 p.m., and Saturday,
June 15, 4:30 p.m. This film
follows the adventure of a
young emissary of the Bishop
of Iceland who is sent to
investigate the unorthodox
activities of a parish beneath
Snæfellsjökull on the western
tip of Iceland. The young
man encounters a strange cast
of characters in a story that
could have come right out of
Iceland’s very own “twilight
zone.”
As in Heaven by director
Kristín Jóhannesdóttir, reveals
the 14th-century dreams of
Hrefna, a young girl living in
a coastal village in 1936 while
awaiting the real-life arrival
of a polar explorer’s ship.
The film will be screened on
Friday, June 14, 8:15 p.m.,
and Sunday, June 16, 6:30
p.m.
When the Raven Flies,
first film in director Hrafn
Gunnlaugsson’s Viking
trilogy, will be shown on
Saturday, June 15, 8:20 p.m.,
and Sunday, June 16, 4:00
p.m. The story opens with
an Irish boy witnessing the
murder of his parents and the
kidnapping of his older sister
by Viking raiders. Years later,
he arrives in Iceland to seek
revenge.
Nói albinói (Nói the
Albino) by Dagur Kári, which
is set in Bolungarvík, tells the
story of a teenaged loner who
falls for the new girl in town,
who works at the local gas
bar and convenience store.
The story that unfolds is both
tenderly moving and tragic.
Steve Gravestock describes
it as “one of the best modern
Icelandic films.” Nói albinói
will be shown on Sunday, June
16, 8:50 p.m., and Monday,
June 17, 6:30 p.m.
Golden Sands by Ágúst
Guðmundsson is a satirical
look at the disturbance that
occurs when U.S. soldiers
establish camp near a town
in South Iceland. Fearing that
the soldiers will compete for
the affection of local women,
young Eiríkur joins his crush
Ásthildur, a young communist
woman, in organizing an anti-
American protest, leading to
comedic results. The film will
be screened on Sunday, June
23, 6:30 p.m.
The Icelandic Dream,
the debut feature of Róbert
I. Douglas, will be shown on
Sunday, June 23, 8:30 p.m.,
and Thursday, June 27, 6:30
p.m. A parody of the American
dream, the film follows Tóti,
“a failure at every one of the
many crazy schemes he turns
his maladroit hand to. Tóti is
abusive to family and friends,
loathed by his ex-wife, and
a stifling bore to his young
daughter.” When he launches
a scheme to smuggle illegal
Bulgarian cigarettes into the
country, through, it looks
like this crackpot idea might
actually pay off.
Life in a Fishbowl by
Baldvin Zophoníasson, which
appeared in Icelandic as
Vonarstræti, weaves together
the tales of three unlikely
characters: Eik, a struggling
single mother; Gústi, a former
athlete trying to make his
way in the world of business;
and Móri, an author who has
turned to drinking. Their lives
eventually come together in
this film that explores pressing
facing society. The film will
be screened on Thursday, June
27, 8:20 p.m., and Friday, June
28, 8:20 p.m.
The series will conclude
with Rams by Grímur
Hákonarson, which won the
Prix Un Certain Regard at
Cannes, which will play on
Friday, June 28, 6:30 p.m.
Winner of the Prix Un Certain
Regard at Cannes, Grímur
Hákonarson’s festival-circuit
hit focuses on two sheep
farming brothers with a
grudge. This film follows the
antics of two brothers, Kiddi
and Gummi, who haven’t
spoken to one another for
40 years owing to an old
grudge – even though they
live next door to one another.
But when the valley’s sheep
are threatened by scrapie,
they are forced together to
save the remaining sheep
from government-ordered
destruction.
Selected by Steve
Gravestock for the Toronto
International Film Festival, the
ten films featured in Wayward
Heroes will also appear in
Regina and Winnipeg later in
the year.
Wayward Heroes film series now running in Vancouver
NEW to the
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Adult Icelandic Flag Shirt $30 (s−xxl)
Youth Icelandic Viking Shirt $25 (s–l)
Toddler I Heart Amma Shirt $20 (2t–6t)
Toddler I Heart Afi Shirt $20 (2t−6t)
To Purchase
Visit: www.lh-inc.ca/shop2
Contact: 204 284 5686 | LH@LH-inc.ca
or visit us at a summer festival near you
Arborg, Lundar, Gimli & more!
NEW to the
Lögberg-Heimskringla
Online Store
Adult Icelandic Flag Shirt $30 (s−xxl)
Youth Icelandic Viking Shirt $25 (s–l)
Toddler I Heart Amma Shirt $20 (2t–6t)
Toddler I Heart Afi Shirt $20 (2t−6t)
To Purchase
Visit: www.lh-inc.ca/shop2
Contact: 204 284 5686 | LH@LH-inc.ca
or visit us at a summer festival near you
Arborg, Lundar, Gimli & more!
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CINEMATHEQUE
A scene from Under the Glacier
A scene from Children of Nature
Through the glass at The Cinematheque