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When the Will Ferrell-Rachel McAdams comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” hit Netflix last year, it garnered a lot of fans. Among those are the residents of Húsavík, the small fishing village in Iceland with 2,300 residents, where the film is set. And they couldn’t be more thrilled that the song from the film, also called “Húsavík,” has made the shortlist for the Oscars. An ode to town itself and the universal love for hometowns, it features lyrics like, “Where the northern lights burst out in colors / And the magic nights surpass all others.”

Now the town has created their own campaign for the song here and produced a video extolling the virtues of “the most beautiful town in the world.” Resident Óskar Óskarsson (actor Sigurður Illugason) takes us through the town, even stopping to make an offering for the elves, and shows how excited...

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...

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.…...

German co-producer joins anticipated new project from Grimur Hakonarson, which will start shooting in late February.

Source: Cannes Film Festival

‘Rams’

Sol Bondy and Jamila Wenske’s Berlin-based One Two Films, has joined as a co-producer on Grimur Hakonarson’s The County, the Icelandic director’s anticipated follow-up to 2015 hit Rams.

One Two joins alongside German broadcaster Sr/Arte.

Grimar Jonsson of Iceland’s Netop Films is the lead producer, with partners Profile Pictures of Denmark, Haut et Court of France and now One Two of Germany. Backers include the Icelandic Film Centre, Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film + TV Fond and Sr/Arte.

As with Rams, Jan Naszewski’s New Europe will handle sales. Distributors already on board are Sena in Iceland, Scanbox for Scandinavia and Haut et Court in France.

The County will start shooting in late February in the countryside of northern Iceland, for delivery in early 2019.

The story is a drama set in rural Iceland...