Virgin Mountain, Sparrows And Rams Add Trophies For Iceland

Virgin Mountain

The Nordic Council Film Prize 2015 has been awarded to Virgin Mountain, which was directed by Dagur Kári, and produced by Agnes Johansen and Baltasar Kormákur. Last year the prestigious award was also taken by Iceland, for the film Of Horses And Men (Hross í Oss)

Virgin Mountain is the story of 43-year-old Fusi who lacks the courage to step into the world of adulthood. He sleepwalks through everyday life, never deviating from fixed routines. But when an effervescent woman and an eight-year-old girl unexpectedly enter his life, he is forced to take the plunge into the unknown.

Sparrows

Sparrows, Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Most Recent feature, has won the Silver Hugo Award in the New Directors competition at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival. This continues a winning streak for Sparrows, having recently won the Golden Shell Award for Best Film at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and Best Film in the 1-2 Competition at the Warsaw Film Festival.

Sparrows follows Ari, 16, who has been living in the city with his mother for the last five years. When she leaves for Africa to supervise a research project, Ari is forced to move back to his small hometown in rural Iceland to live with his father Gunnar who spends most nights drinking.

Rams

Rams (Hrútar), the new feature from writer / director Grímur Hákonarson, has won the Golden Angel at the International Film Festival Tofifest in Toruń, Poland. Iceland’s entry for the 88th Academy Awards recently won the HIFF Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and Zurich’s Golden Eye trophy for Best International Feature Film. This marks another win in a strong festival run that began with the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes in May.

Rams tells the story of brothers Gummi (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) and Kiddi (Theodór Júlíusson) who live side-by-side but have not spoken in forty years. Stubborn and competitive, they only communicate via handwritten notes delivered by their loyal sheepdog Somi. When a deadly virus threatens their prize-winning sheep and livelihood, they are forced to come together to save their unique family breed, and themselves, from extinction.