Balance

A documentary about the life of a "famous" bum in Iceland.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, relations between the former allied eastern and western powers deteriorated fast. Suddenly, the small island nation found itself in the midst of the ensuing “cold-war”, which it used to its full benefit to catapult into the modern world. A founding member of the NATO alliance, Iceland provided an important base for forward operations in protection of NATO’s northern flank and Scandinavia and the approaches to North America by U.S. and allied forces.

Six friends on their annual fishing trip realize leaving wives, work and worries at home is really hard work. What was supposed to be a cozy fishing trip, turns out to be a downward spiral to Hell. Let's go fishing.

A documentary about the history of scrapie in Iceland.

When the Icelandic banks collapsed in the autum of 2008, taking most of the economy down with them, Ari Alexander took his camera and started to film what was happening in this tiny but relatively stable and affluent society. He filmed the ever-larger protests that in the end led to the downfall of the government. He took interviews with people shocked and confused by what was going on around them. He went to conferences and seminars where scholars tired to work out what had happened and what should happen next. He followed the endless debates and negotiations around the Icesave-accounts set up by Icelandic banks abroad. Every day brought fresh news of the complicated and often illegal deals made by financiers and bankers in the years leading up to the collapse.

This is a documentary about a teacher from Reykjavik in search of her roots and interested in the preservation of old tales and history. Our story opens in the remote Mýrar cemetery in the West Fjords. The narrator is standing by her forefathers´ grave, which is overgrown and neglected and she senses her dead ancestors call out and implore her to do something. Beautiful irons cross lies on the grave of a young boy who died in the middle of the nineteenth century. Her curiosity aroused, the narrator discovers the story behind the iron cross memorial by talking to the archaeologist, Gunnar Bollason. She then goes on to discover similar iron crosses in cemeteries elsewhere in the southwest of the country. We visit the town of Þingeyri and watch as the broken iron cross from the family grave is repaired by the skilled craftsmanship of Kristján Gunnarsson at his engineering workshop, a workplace with an unbroken tradition going all the way back to 1913.

A beautiful filmed short documentary about the life cycle of the arctic fox. A treat for nature and animal lovers alike.

This film explores the five different Icelandic national costumes, including their meaning for people in earlier times and the influence they continue to have on contemporary Icelandic artists and designers.

Icelandic Pop music is a World known brand today. Before that happened, scores of Icelandic musicians had tried their luck abroad with little success. Today Icelandic bands and artists are household names along with the pristine Nature of Iceland. How did that happen and who are the main players? In this documentary series, we follow the evolution of Icelandic popular music from around 800 AD until today.

Canvas and Curtains is a documentary about the icelandic artist and scenographer, Steinthor Sigurdsson. This biography narrates Steinthors story from his childhood years in his native town Stykkisholmur, until present time. Steinthor recently celebrated his 80th birthday and has in the past few years continued his work as exhibition planner and designer. In this film we follow his present time work, designing the Icelandic Seal Center in Hvammstangi and the Volcano Museum in Stykkisholmur. Steinthor goes to visit an old friend in Stockholm. The trip brings back memories from their school years at Stockholms art academy and in Spain in the fifties.

Gudmundur Felix lost both arms in a horrible work accident in 1998, when he climbed a high voltage mast for repair work. His biggest wish is to hug his daughters and Felix is set on getting an arms transplant. He swims against the current for 20 years to make this happen. The waiting is endless and the health care system is not in favor of revolutionary methods needed for a transplant of this magnitude. In the end a miracle is within arms reach, thanks to cutting edge progress in modern medicine.