23/06/2022 - Between 23 and 26 June, Icelandic culture will be landing in the French capital in the form of Islenska Vikan, kicking off with Hlynur Palmason’s much remarked Cannes-screened film

Never before has such a well-rounded event revolving around Icelandic culture been organised in France. Today sees the opening in Paris’s L’Entrepôt (co-owned by producer Charles Gillibert) of Islenska Vikan (Icelandic Week), an event during which artists, authors, musicians and filmmakers from this rather fascinating island in the outer reaches of Europe are set to be honoured until 26 June. A premiere of Hlynur Palmason’s spectacular, visceral and epic movie Godland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elliott Crosset Hove
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile] will kick things off, a movie whose inexplicable failure to scoop an award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section last month is still a source of much confusion, and which Jour2Fête are releasing in France on 21 December.

Another huge talent from the world of Icelandic cinema will be taking part in this Paris-based celebration: Benedikt Erlingsson, who will form the focus of a tribute set to include Of Horses and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile] (the victor of the New Directors competition in San Sebastián 2013) and Woman at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile] (the revelation of Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2018).

Tribute will also be paid to French-Icelandic screenwriter and director Solveig Anspach via the screening of several of her films and documentaries, in the presence of her actors Didda Jonsdottir, Élodie Bouchez, Samir Guesmi, Florence Loiret-Caille and Karin Viard.

Likewise worth a mention on the film side of things is Beautiful Beings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (awarded the Europa Cinemas Label in the Berlinale’s 2022 Panorama section), the very same director’s debut film Heartstone [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile], documentaries Heima by Dean Deblois (about Sigur Ros’s legendary tour of Iceland), Raise The Bar by Gudjon Ragnarsson, and Dive: Rituals in Water by Elín Hansdóttir, Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir and Hanna Björk Valsdóttir, and a number of short films and one animated film, Flying the Nest [+see also:
trailer
film profile], by the late Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson. A highly appealing series set to be shown in a premiere is also on the agenda in the form of Blackport [+see also:
interview: Olivier Wotling
series profile], which won last year’s Grand Prize in Series Mania’s international competition.

This immersion into Icelandic culture, which is also showcasing literature (notably Audur Ava Olafsdottir), music (two concerts by Arny Margret), gastronomy and workshops, is organised by the Les Arcs Film Festival team, in partnership with the Icelandic Embassy in Paris, the Icelandic Film Center, Business Iceland, Iceland Music, the Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, Icelandair and Europe’s Media programme.

(Translated from French)