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FESTIVALS Iceland

A swim-in cinema and Foodies at Reykjavik’s Film Festival

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- David Cronenberg and Margarethe von Trotta have been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 12th edition of Iceland’s international showcase

A swim-in cinema and Foodies at Reykjavik’s Film Festival
Foodies: The Culinary Jetset by Thomas Jackson, Charlotte Landelius and Henrik Stockare

Iranian director Vahid Jalilvand’s feature debut, Wednesday May 9, which received the Interfilm Award at Venice, has been named Discovery of the Year and Jalilvand presented with the Golden Puffin at the Reykjavik International Film Festival, which ended on 4 October. “We were really moved by the stories of three women in contemporary Tehran,” said the jury.

The Environmental Award for a film in the A Different Tomorrow section went to Canadian director Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile
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, while US filmmaker Matthew Heineman’s documentary Cartel Land collected the Audience Award. The international critics gave their FIPRESCI Prize to US director Trey Edward Shults’ first feature, Krisha. Icelandic directors Jón Ásgeir Karlsson’s Docyoumentory and Eva Sigurdardóttir’s Rainbow Party shared the honour for Best Icelandic Short, and Canadian filmmakers Harry Cherniak and Dusty Mancinelli won the Golden Egg for their Winter Hymns project in the festival’s Talent Lab.

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Opened by Iceland’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ragnheidur Elín Árnadóttir, and Italian director Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Matteo Garrone
film profile
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, the 12th edition of the showcase unspooled approximately 100 films, including a Danish focus with eight recent features. Canada’s David Cronenberg and Germany’s Margarethe von Trotta were guests of honour and received Lifetime Achievement Awards. Among the special events were “An Evening with Woody Allen”, where the music from his films was performed by the Bananas Quintet at the Salurinn Concert Hall, and the screening of Thomas Jackson, Charlotte Landelius and Henrik Stockare’s Swedish documentary Foodies: The Culinary Jetset at Hotel Borg’s Golden Ballroom, while attendees enjoyed a multi-course dinner inspired by the film, with the directors present.

Prior to the event, festival director Hrönn Marinósdóttir had organised a local film programme in a cave near Reykjavik, and this “cave-in cinema” was followed up during the festival with a “swim-in cinema” for the presentation of Italian director Dario Argento’s horror film Suspiria. In addition, the 100th anniversary of Iceland giving women the right to vote was celebrated with a one-week course in filmmaking for 13- and 14-year-old girls.

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