The opening of The Vasulka Effect couldn’t be more apt: Steina Vasulka addresses her husband Woody through various TV screens. He does the same and replies. A perfect image of the relationship between the free-spirited, groundbreaking pioneers of video art. After meeting in Prague in the early 1960s, they relocated from Czechoslovakia to New York, where they later founded The Kitchen, their legendary art and performance gallery. Read More »
This is the story of a spiritual and physical odyssey, comic and strange, made by a young theological student. Our hero is Umbi (an acronym for emissary of the bishop), sent by him to undertake an important investigation at Snæfell glacier. In particular he is to look into the conduct and behavior of Jón Prímus, the old pastor at Snæfell. Fantastic rumours are rife: amongst other things it is said that a corpse is lodged in the glacier! Armed with his tape recorder and notebook, Umbi embarks upon his mission. He tries to question the weird locals, a weird lot, but gets evasive answers. Slowly he is dragged into a quagmire of strange happenings and his efforts to understand only make him confused. If at the beginning he is a chiper, a mere device, by the end of the story he is inextricably involved, a committed participant in the bizarre events. Read More »
Two billion years ahead of us, a future race of humans finds itself on the verge of extinction. Almost all that is left in the world are lone and surreal monuments, beaming their message into the wilderness.
Based on the cult science fiction novel of the same name by Olaf Stapledon, Jóhann Jóhannsson artfully combines music, film and narrative spoken by Hollywood star Tilda Swinton in his opus Magnum Last and First Men, a poetic meditation on memory and loss. Read More »
Set in modern day Iceland, an immigrant vows revenge after losing his unborn child in an attack by a crime syndicate, thereby binding his fate with a troubled policewoman, her corrupt police commander, and a crime lord who’s losing his edge. Read More »
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An off duty police begins to suspect a local man for having had an affair with his recently dead wife. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. Read More »
This is a tragicomic story of lone rebel Boddi Steingrimsson who lives in a small town in Northern Iceland. Boddi hates materialistic modern society in its entirety and on his blog-page he comically criticizes everything and everyone. Before long he has become an outlaw in his own hometown, just like his viking hero, Grettir. After a series of dramatic mishaps, he snaps and goes riding down south to the big city on his sturdy steed Nietzsche. He has got a gun in his pocket and is ready for the revolution. Read More »
Set on the planet Mars, The Sea of Perdition tells the story of a stranded astronaut (Maggie Moor), who discovers an ancient temple in the wilderness and whatever secrets it may hold.
The Sea of Perdition was shot in Iceland in mid-2006, as a part of Errant Films’ IBM Film project, which consisted of five separate short films, all based upon the composition “The Sky’s gone dim and the Sun’s gone black” by the Icelandic composer Johann Johansson. The featured music is from the fifth part of his album, IBM 1401 – A User’s Manual. Read More »