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Exclusive: Baltasar Kormákur’s Icelandic box office hit Touch has been chosen as the country’s International Feature Oscar entry. This marks the fifth time that the filmmaker is repping Iceland in the category.

Touch is based on the Icelandic bestselling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafssonand and the script is co-written by Ólafsson and Kormákur.

Focus Features has rights in all markets outside Iceland, where, in July, it became the highest-grossing movie of the year. Focus released the romantic drama in theaters July 12, with a $1.1 million North American gross so far and $2.4M global to date.

The film follows widower Kristofer (Egil Ólafsson), who, after receiving an early-stage dementia diagnosis at the outset of the Covid pandemic, leaves behind his Reykjavik home hoping to solve the greatest mystery of his life. As a student in London five decades earlier, Kristofer had fallen in love with Miko, whose father owned the...

Touch tenderly explores reconnection with the past, hope, and love through a beautifully moving story. The film effectively showcases the long-lasting effects of war on individuals and generations, filled with genuine emotion. Touch seamlessly moves between time periods, capturing the deep emotions and connections between characters.

Touch (2024) is about reconnection with ones past, with the more hopeful version of oneself, and with love. Theres a sense of regret wrapped into its story, but what the film does so wonderfully is reveal the long-lasting effects of war on a population, the repercussions of which are felt through generations. Directed by Baltasar Kormkur from a screenplay he co-wrote with Olaf Olaffson, Touch lovingly handles its subject matter and characters and reminds us that what was once lost can be found again.

Touch (2024)

Director Baltasar KormakurRelease Date July 12, 2024Studio(s) Good Chaos, Rvk StudiosDistributor(s) Focus Features, Universal PicturesWriters lafur Jhann lafsson, Baltasar KormakurCast Plmi Kormkur Baltasarsson,...

Touch is a tale of lost love that spans five decades, revealing a man's powerful journey to rediscover happiness and profound truths. Director Baltasar Kormkur masterfully weaves a story that encapsulates the human experience with poetic honesty and emotional depth. Kristfer's indomitable will leads to a breathtaking climax that explores the enduring power of friendship, passion, and devotion.

Icelandic auteur Baltasar Kormkur crafts an achingly beautiful tale of lost love and the profound journey taken to rediscover happiness. Time, in this case a stunning five decades, can never dull the pain of heartbreak. Touch follows a sweet and gentle soul as he pursues the most personal of mysteries at the pandemic's dawn. Why did a magnetic attraction born by chance slip away for seemingly no reason? The answer will floor you with its devastating truth. Touch encapsulates the human experience with poetic honesty. Those we cherish can be cruelly torn away,...

The One Who Got Away is a romantic notion that’s been widely propagated by pop culture cinema. And for good reason, as heartfelt drama and compelling conflicts arise authentically from these confrontations with fate. Director-co-writer Baltasar Kormákur’s “Touch,” based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s novel of the same name, expands on this swoon-worthy idea, elegantly crafting an achingly poignant story centered on an elderly man searching for his true love amidst a time of uncertainty. This gentle, unfussy romance contains a heart-clutching finale that’s as classically restrained as it is emotionally resounding.

Kristofer (Egill Ólafsson) lives a lonely life on the chilly seaside of Iceland since the death of his wife years prior. His days consist of singing in a men’s choir, chatting on the phone with his overbearing daughter Sonja (Harpa Elísa Þórsdóttir), owning a restaurant in his sleepy village and returning to the sad,...

Baltasar Kormákur is back directing — but this time it’s not a survival drama, it’s a romance.

The “Adrift” and “Everest” filmmaker directs Focus Features’ “Touch,” based on the bestselling novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson. The film tells a romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents, with one widower trying to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago.

Director Kormákur co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Ólafsson. The original Icelandic novel was published by Ecco/Harper Collins in the U.S. in August 2022. The film was shot in Iceland and Japan.

The ensemble cast is led by Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Pálmi Kormákur, Masahiro Motoki, Yoko Narahashi, Meg Kubota, and Tatsuya Tagawa, with Charles Nishikawa, Sigurður Ingvarsson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Kieran Buckeridge, Ruth Sheen, María Ellingsen, and Masatoshi Nakamura also starring.

Writer/director Kormákur produces along with Agnes Johansen and Mike Goodridge. Kormákur most recently directed 2022’s “Beast...

Exclusive: Focus Features we hear has set a July 12, 2024 limited theatrical release date for Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic-drama Touch.

Universal Pictures International is handling international distribution sans Iceland.

The movie is based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s bestselling Icelandic novel published by Ecco/Harper Collins in the U.S in August 2022. The movie follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago before his time runs out. The story spans several decades and continents. Ólafsson and Kormákur co-wrote the movie.

Rvk Studios’ Kormákur and Agnes Johansen produced Touch alongside Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge.

Touch stars Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, Pálmi Kormákur, Masahiro Motoki, Yoko Narahashi, Meg Kubota, Tatsuya Tagawa, Charles Nishikawa, Sigurður Ingvarsson, Starkaður Pétursson, Benedikt Erlingsson, Kieran Buckeridge, Ruth Sheen, María Ellingsen and Masatoshi Nakamura.

Focus Features’ 2024 lineup includes Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s Drive-Away Dolls, the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black,...

Exclusive: Focus Features has boarded Beast and Everest filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur’s romantic drama Touch, which begins principal photography Sunday in London. Focus will release domestically, with Universal Pictures International handling overseas distribution (excluding Iceland).

Touch is based on the bestselling Icelandic novel by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, which was published in the U.S. in August this year. Ólaffson co-wrote the script with Kormákur.

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The story spans several decades and continents as it follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love...