Another Look at Reykjavik

Two seven years old boys ask God to fulfill their biggest wish and give them chewing gum. This film is based on a short story by Davíð Oddsson, the Prime Minister of Iceland 1991-2004.

Sveinn, a musician with writer's block decides to apply for a teaching position in a boarding school where he intends to work on his music, but things don't go according to plan.

A country boy has to quit school in Reykjavík and move back home.

A young boy is spending the summer on his uncle's horse farm. He takes care of the sheep and plays cowboy but is suddenly drawn into the world of adults when his uncle meets the woman of his dream. The boy follows how his uncle tries to seduce this beautiful lady - with both happy and tragedic consequences.

Norway in the 10th century. Askur, son of the powerful Thorgeir marries Embla, daughter of one of the few remaining landowners in Norway, in a pagan ceremony. King Olav, a ruthless christian, wants to eredicate all traces of non-christian beliefs and captures the two of them during the ceremony. In order to free Embla, Askur must go to Iceland and convert the people there to catholicism.

Vikings pillage Ireland, seeking silver and slaves, slaying men and women in the process. A young boy is spared when a Viking takes pity on him instead of killing him. Twenty years later the boy returns to Iceland take his revenge.

Trausti returns to Iceland just in time to be entangled in a family feud over a stranded whale-cadaver. His mother (the family head) is mortally wounded and Grim kills Erikur; the other clan leader. Isold, daughter of Erikur now takes his place. Isold and Trausti are attracted to each other, but Isold was promised to Hjoerleifur - the son of the Bishop (of Iceland) and his powerful wife. However, Isold has a plan...

A seven-year-old boy is sent to a farm on a remote island, when his mother goes abroad. On the island the boy gets to know a twenty-year-old woman who seems willing to take on a mother's role. But the boy is reaching an age of sexual awareness and instead of regarding her as a mother figure; he falls obsessively in love with her.

The young and fanatical Jon is appointed pastor to a remote church in 15th century Iceland. As is custom, he marries the widow of his predecessor, a woman much older than he is. He is ardent in his fight against Satan, and the villagers don't dare to question his authority. When he falls for a beautiful young woman, Jon is convinced witchcraft is at work, and his crusade leads to cruel executions of innocent people. The stronger his lust, the deeper his madness drives him in his religious fervor.

Sweden, beginning of the 18th Century. Executions are popular entertainment and brothels a given. Still the executioner and the whore are both despised and shunned. The executioner became executioner against his will and the whore, only 17 years old, was forced into the brothel. This is the story of how the two meet and exchange cruelty with tenderness, guilt with innocence.

Benjamín Eiríksson, a middle-aged man, has reached a cross-road in his life. A pioneer in engineering, who has achieved all the goals open to him in his profession. A respected father and loving husband, his heart is now silent. His children are leaving home, his wife is estranged from him. The vast power-stations, once the proud symbols of his ingenuity and creativity, now appear merely stark monuments to vanity and futility. Craving love, friendship, understanding, he tries to make a fresh start, in search of a life of adventure, a life with meaning.

Two city folk go on a trip to deserted villages around the country, laden with spirits, guns, and other ammunition. The trip is intended as an outing in nature, but quickly the journey turns into pure horror.

The Icelandic parliament has been presented with a bill which will allow the Institute for State Supervision to create a SuperCode Databank which will centralize all other databanks based on personal ID numbers; with this SuperCode the Institute can follow and monitor everyone’s behavior. Hannes, a middle-aged man who still lives with his aging mother, works at the Institute, and he is the originator of the idea. Hannes has already secretly started working on it on his computer, even though it is uncertain that Parliament will agree to it. Hannes is in love with Stefania, the new secretary in the Institute, and hopes to impress her with his “private” SuperCode Databank. But one day, Hannes’s computer, containing the databank, is stolen. Hannes is afraid of the consequences if it is discovered he has been working on the SuperCode illegally. He starts trying to catch the thief himself only to become a victim of the very systems he has believed in and worked so hard to strengthen.

Renowned photographer, Larus, returns to Iceland to attend the funeral of his mother. With him is his wife Rose, twenty years his junior. With his homecoming, Larus begins to reminisce on his childhood, and becomes distant from his wife. Soon she begins to realize that not everything is as it should be.

Based on an interview with Ingmar Bergman and footage taken during the director's visit to the Reykjavík Art Festival in 1986, this film focuses on Mr. Bergman's methods and philosophy on film direction.