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Bankside has unveiled a first look at Ugla Hauksdóttir’s volcano thriller The Fires, shot on location in Iceland throughout the summer, starring Vigdís Hrefna Pálsdóttir and Pilou Asbæk (pictured).

Further cast includesJóhann G. Jóhannsson, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, Guðmundur Ólafsson, Þór Tulinius, Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir and Jörundur Ragnarsson.

Writtenby Hauksdóttir and Markus Englmair, the film is an adaptation of the bestselling Icelandic novel of the same name by Sigríður Hagalín.

It is set against a backdrop of unease and fear as volcanoes that have been dormant for 800 years show signs of life in Iceland’s populated region.

Producers...

Danish actor Pilou Asbæk, star of Game Of Thrones, Aquaman and Borgen, has joined the cast of Ugla Hauksdóttir’s feature debut, Icelandic thriller The Fires, as Bankside locks in pre-sales in key territories.

Ingvar Sigurdsson and Borys Szyc also join the previously announced cast of Vigdís Hrefna Pálsdóttir, Guðmundur Ólafsson, Þór Tulinius, Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir and Jörundur Ragnarsson.

Sales have landed in Germany (Wild Bunch), Eastern Europe (HBO), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Middle East (Front Row) and Switzerland (Praesens).

The Fires is about a volcanologist, responsible for predicting the volcanic activity and ensuring public safety, who finds herself caught between...

UK sales outfit Bankside Films has boarded world sales for Ugla Hauksdóttir’s volcano thriller The Fires.

The Fires is about a volcanologist, responsible for predicting the volcanic activity and ensuring public safety, who finds herself caught between a love affair that may destroy her family and an eruption that threatens the capital city.

It is the debut feature of Hauksdóttir and will shoot in Iceland this summer with a local cast led by Vigdís Hrefna Pálsdóttir (pictured left in concept art materials), Guðmundur Ólafsson, Þór Tulinius, Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir and Jörundur Ragnarsson.

Written by Hauksdóttir and Markus Englmair, the...

The Sorrows of Milk: Hákonarson Returns for More Rural Retribution

Iceland’s Grímur Hákonarson heads to Norma Rae (1979) territory in the agricultural hinterlands with third narrative feature, The County, a grim predecessor to the redemptive irreverence of his 2015 international breakout Rams, which took home the top prize out of Un Certain Regard at Cannes (and has now been subjected to an English language remake).

Staking a claim as a notable contemporary amongst Iceland’s burgeoning film industry, Hákonarson’s latest, while featuring a likeable, unfussy lead performance from Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir, is less dexterous than his previous feature in its delivery of an old-fashioned (wo)man against society melodrama which attempts to satisfy too many urges as the film is too realistically low-key to justify its attempts at violence or anarchy and too shortsighted in its character development to exculpate some of its heroine’s more outlandish decisions.…

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Grímur Hákonarson finds more trouble brewing down on the farm in his follow-up to the Cannes Un Certain Regard-winning Rams. More of a low-key straight forward drama than his black comedy-inflected hit, The County tracks what happens to farmer Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) after the unexpected death of her husband Reynir (Hinrik Ólafsson).

Suddenly in control of their farm, which was scraping by even with two of them working it, she finds herself locking horns with the local co-op after discovering the company has been strong-arming those who don't like its elevated prices in a move that cuts close to home.

Hákonarson's woman against corporate Mafia premise is solid enough but The County never manages to generate the emotional intensity that the feuding brothers brought to his previous film, perhaps because the bad guy, co-op chief Eyjólfur (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) gets less screentime than he might - although this does stop...

A farmer’s widow wages war against local power brokers in this bittersweet Icelandic drama

In his deadpan 2015 feature Rams, Icelandic film-maker Grímur Hákonarson breathed bittersweet life into a tale of feuding sheep-farming brothers facing a cull that risked destroying their ancestral stock and way of life. Here, he peels back another layer of dour Nordic culture, turning his attention to a woman finding her voice amid the often chilly silence of agrarian life, making her mark in a male-dominated industry. Like its predecessor, The County blends elements of heartfelt tragedy with absurdist comedy, conjuring a humanist portrait of life in which community and loneliness coexist in a landscape of contradictions – geographical, personal, and political.

In a scene that reminded me of the arresting opening of Andrew Kötting’s This Filthy Earth, we meet Inga (stage and TV veteran Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) pulling a newborn calf from its mother’s...

A fiercely principled woman is rejuvenated by her battle against corruption in Grímur Hákonarson’s stirring drama

The spirit of Elia Kazan lives on in this tough community drama from Icelandic film-maker Grímur Hákonarson, who won golden plaudits for his 2015 picture Rams, about two sheep-farming brothers, which struck a clever tonal balance between comedy and tragedy.

The County is dourer than that, though from the same world of self-reliant and pugnacious souls who have made their way in life against tough odds, thriving in solitude and hardship amid a vast, remote, beautiful landscape. The action centres on farmers: Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) who is married to moody, careworn Reynir (Hinrik Ólafsson).

In The County, Rams writer/ director Grímur Hákonarson gives us another slice of rural Icelandic life in this stunning, heartbreaking and at times deliciously playful drama. Written by Hákonarson and with a stunning cinematography courtesy of Mart Taniel, the film tells the story of a woman’s solitary fight against corruption and injustice in her farming community.

Middle-aged couple Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) and Reynir (Hinrik Ólafsson) run a small dairy fam in one of the most remote areas of Iceland. Recently, however, the couple have struggled to keep afloat amidst mounting debts and a powerful local cooperative breathing down their necks. For years the local farming co-op has had a say on where farmers can buy or sell their produce, leaving them almost with no profit ands unable to prosper.

When Reynir dies suddenly leaving huge debts and a lot of unanswered questions behind, Inga learns of the true...

Fans of Icelandic cinema will be pleased to know that this year’s Glasgow Film Festival has a whole strand dedicated to the country and its cinema. This is Gff’s biggest ever country focus strand, offering up a chance to catch the very best Icelandic films of the past years. This programme includes the UK premiere of the eagerly awaited The County, from Rams director Grímur Hákonarson.

The Country

Set in a small Icelandic farming community, The County tells the story of Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) a recenstly widowed dairy farmer who rebels against the powerful and corrupt local cooperative.

A White, White Day

This is the second feature from Winter Brothers director Hlynur Pálmason. Police officer Ingrimundur (Ingvar Sigurðsson) is devoted and still grieving after the sudden death of his wife. He tries to carry on, but starts to suspect that the woman he thought loved him unconditionally had been unfaithful to him.

After the death of her dairy farmer husband, a middle-aged woman courageously sacrifices her livelihood to speak out against the corruption and injustice at work in her community in the audience-pleasing, humanist drama “The County.” Like writer-director Grímur Hákonarson’s previous film “Rams,” . The yin to that film’s yang, “The County” is full of feisty female energy and imagery, and sprinkled with rousing “you go girl!” comic moments. Niche arthouse play is a given for this appealing and endearingly modest tale.

Hard-working couple Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) and Reynir (Hinrik Ólafsson) run Dalsmynni, a mom-and-pop dairy farm that has been in his family for generations. With money tight and their hours long, they haven’t been able to take a vacation for three years. At night, they are so fatigued that they can barely manage to mumble, “Did you call the inseminator?” or “Did you order the fertilizer?” before collapsing into bed.

The devolution of a worker-owned entity into that which it was formed to combat probably occurs much faster than you’d expect. Things initially work like they should with successful profits and happy members. The establishment itself is also pleased because it sees little threat of anyone going outside its economic reach when the whole point of forming it was to get out from under the exorbitant costs of external resources. Vote an incoming director with greed in his/her heart that sees how good things are, however, and they’ll start finding ways to personally capitalize on that implicit harmony. Executive salaries are slowly raised, prices are gradually increased, and a new monopoly is eventually formed. And when members finally catch on, they unfortunately realize they’re too late to escape.

It’s at this point in the lifespan of one such co-op that writer/director Grímur Hákonarson introduces...

Grímur Hákonarson landed on our radar with his last film, the heartfelt Un Certain Regard Cannes winner Rams. Four years later he’s now back with The County, which follows an Icelandic woman who rises up against her local co-op and the old ways of life in her small village. Described as David-and-Goliath story, we look forward to the specificity and splendor that Hákonarson will likely once again bring to screens in this chilly locale.

Ahead of an international premiere at Tiff starting this Friday, we’re pleased to debut an exclusive track from the soundtrack, from Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurdsson. Titled “Burial Ground,” it’s an eerily beautiful, scene-setting piece of music.

“I wanted to make a film about an individual who stands up to change society,” the director recently said. “Then I had the idea of Inga, a strong woman, working in a modern farm, fighting a patriarchal society.

"It's time for us farmers to retake control." Yes! Fight the power! Screen Daily has debuted a festival promo trailer for the Icelandic drama titled The County, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival coming up next month. The film will screen in the Contemporary World Cinema section, after already opening in Icelandic cinemas this summer. From the acclaimed director of the film Rams, Grímur Hákonarson's The County is set in rural Iceland and follows Inga, a middle-aged cow farmer who loses her husband in an accident and must stand on her own two feet. She begins a new life on her own terms by fighting against corruption and injustice at the co-op in her community. Don't follow the herd! The film stars Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, and Sigurður Sigurjónsson. I'm really enjoying this outstanding trend of anti-corruption, power-to-the-people films from Iceland these days (see also: Woman at War). More of this.

Goteborg — The 20th Nordic Film Market, held parallel to the Göteborg Film Festival, closed Sunday after three days of screenings and pitchings of 48 Nordic films and projects. Following, five key takeaways or trends:

Standout Nordic Brand Quality

An excellent crop, better than 2018, with a large diversity of content, catering to arthouse/mainstream as well as local/international audiences – these were prevailing reactions from international buyers and programmers polled yesterday in Göteborg. A senior A festival programmer – who asked to remain anonymous- even said: “Today the Nordics are perhaps the strongest region in Europe creatively across TV drama, feature and documentary film.”

Although most titles had already been snatched by the big Nordic sellers – TrustNordisk, LevelK, New Europe Film Sales, The Yellow Affair, Sf Studios – a dozen small offers in post, or in development at the Discovery section, still open for negotiations, made the Göteborg stop-over – fully worthwhile for the 25-plus sales reps in attendance.

The County

Four years after his hit sophomore film Rams (2015), Iceland’s Grimur Hakonarson should at last be ready with his third feature, The County. His latest is an Icelandic-Danish-French-German co-production, comprised of Hakonarson’s returning producer Grimar Jonsson (also of 2017’s Under the Tree) plus co-producers Jamila Wenske and Sol Bondy. Starring Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir, Hakonarson also reunites with his Rams actors Sigurður Sigurjónsson and Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson, who are also joined by Hinrik Ólafsson, Hannes Óli Ágústsson, Ragnhildur Gísladóttir and Denmark’s Jens Albinus.…...

“When you fall at the beginning of the journey, it will be a good journey,” says genial producer Grímar Jónsson of Netop Films, quoting an old Icelandic proverb. He’s referring to the emergency tooth extraction required by ace Estonian cinematographer Mart Taniel (“November”) on the first day of the shoot of “The County,” the much-anticipated new film from “Rams” helmer Grímur Hákonarson. Luckily, the main shooting location of the Iceland-Denmark-Germany-France co-production was just two hours from Reykjavik and Jónsson’s helpful dentist.

Like “Rams,” “The County” probes a deeply rooted rural culture that is closely connected to the Icelandic national spirit. The story centers on Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir), a middle-aged widow, who must learn to be self-sufficient after the accidental death of her dairy farmer husband. She starts a new life on her own terms and rises up against the corruption and injustice in her community.

Jan Naszewski...