There is a great deal of growth in Icelandic filmmaking around these films, as 8 films, both documentaries and feature films, will premiere at RIFF that either have Icelandic directors or are Icelandic productions.<\/b><\/p>\n
First, the party's opening image should be mentioned. <\/span>Wolka<\/b> which is by the beloved director who has now passed away <\/span>Arna Olaf Asgeirsson<\/b>. Many are eagerly awaiting its release, as \u00c1rni was highly regarded in the film industry here at home, and the film provides insight into the Polish community in Iceland, which has been growing rapidly over the years. Wolka is an Icelandic-Polish collaboration and almost only Polish actors play roles in the film. But the film is directed by \u00c1rni, and the music, costumes, set design and production are in the hands of Icelanders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Of these eight films, two are Icelandic feature films; the films <\/span>Owls<\/b> after <\/span>Teit Magnusson<\/b> and <\/span>Grief<\/b> after <\/span>Asgeir Sigurdsson<\/b> and <\/span>Anton Karl Kristensen<\/b>Both are the directors' debuts in making a full-length feature film. The film Owls is about a widower <\/span>P\u00e1l meets a woman who is being abused by her boyfriend. While trying to help her, he has to face his past. Harmur is about a young man who is forced to search for his younger brother in the underworld of Reykjav\u00edk when their mother dies. Harmur has already been selected for several film festivals and received the ,,Directorial Discovery Award'' at Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Three Icelandic documentaries will have their world premieres in the category at the festival, and they couldn't be more different. The film <\/span>Not the only one<\/b> after <\/span>Asthildi Kjartansdottir<\/b> is a somber story about <\/span>Edna Lupita<\/b> and shows how it is possible to live a normal and meaningful life despite being on the verge of suicide. In the film <\/span>Heroes of the Day<\/b> after <\/span>Magneu Bj\u00f6rk Valdimarsd\u00f3ttir<\/b> We meet four women who have lived in Iceland for twenty years. Born in Bosnia, Jamaica, Poland and Turkey \u2013 they all have their own stories of what brought them here and what it's like to be an expatriate Icelander in Iceland today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The third documentary <\/span>Burial <\/b>after <\/span>Anna Maria Bogadottir<\/b> is of a completely different nature, as it deals with the Industrial Bank's mansion on L\u00e6kjargata, which was built in the 1960s in the spirit of international futuristic ideas. More than half a century later, we witness the demolition and dissolution of the bank with the daily life of the city in the background.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, there are two full-length feature films that are Icelandic-foreign collaborative projects. On the one hand, <\/span>A small butterfly<\/b> or Lille Sommerfugl in the original language. An Icelandic-Danish collaboration about a stubborn pig farmer and his wife who throw a party on their farm to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. There are many secrets within the family, and as the evening progresses, they are revealed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, it is <\/span>RIFF final film, the big movie<\/b> Margaret, Queen of the North.<\/b> The film is the most expensive film ever produced in the Nordic countries and is a joint Nordic project. The director is <\/span>Charlotte Sieling <\/b>who directed, among others, The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen. Trine Dyrholm plays the lead role and actresses Halld\u00f3ra Geirhar\u00f0s and Tinna Hrafns play supporting roles. Trine will be the guest of honor at the festival and will be present at the screening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When Anna is released from prison in Poland after 15 years behind bars, she has only one goal in mind \u2013 to find a woman named Dorota. She searches for her in her old neighborhood in Warsaw, but most of the people she once knew have gone elsewhere. When Anna is about to give up on her search, she discovers, to her great disappointment, that Dorota had moved to Iceland a few years earlier. Anna drops everything and travels to Iceland on a fake passport, knowing that she could be sacrificing her freedom by taking the risk.<\/span><\/p>\nWolka<\/b><\/h4>\n