Financial Crisis Shminancial Smisis. Record number of features in production in Iceland.

As some of you might know, those who follow the news, Iceland is going through a massive financial downturn after all of the banks went bankrupt in one fell swoop and the government had to bail them out. That resulted in massive layoffs in the job market and we as a country have to pony up the cash to pay for the cluster fuck that was our financial policy both here and abroad. As a result the government has been making cutbacks in its spending and many would think that the Icelandic Film Centre, a government funding program, would get shafted because, lets face it, films aren't that important in the big scheme of things. But surprisingly more films are now in production than have ever been at one time before. Changes in filmmaking technology have something to do with this I'm sure with cameras and editing softwares getting cheaper and cheaper and shooting on film has nearly died off as a result of this.
Right now there are at least 13 feature films in various stages of active production, a huge number for us since it's usually about four or five films a year at the most. It seems that filmmakers have stopped relying on the film fund and have started to finance the films themselves, as they did before the film fund was established back in the 80's. But unlike then the financial risk isn't as big as it was back in the day.
After the break you'll find the list of films that are on their way to our cinemas in the coming months.

Bjarnfreðarson
A feature film based on a hugely popular TV series that will premier its third season soon and the film will function as a closure of sort for some of the characters. The series and film are directed by Ragnar Bragason who some of you might know as the director of Children and Parents.

The Good Heart
Dagur Kárason's new film and first english language feature will have its world premier at TIFF this year and it stars Brian Cox and Paul Dano. The story is about an older bar owner who's anger has caused him to have at least five heart attacks. Sensing that the end might near he picks up a young homeless boy to mentor him in the fine art of managing a bar in order to hold up his legacy.

Sumarlandið (Summerland)
A comedy from Grímur Hákonarson who is making his first feature after having found success with his numerous short films. The story revolves around a family who runs a psychic centre and a paranormal museum who fall on hard times but the father decides to sell their "elf stones" to rich foreigners. While their financial situation has been fixed the family unit falls apart. Produced by Baltasar Kormákur's company.

Mamma Gógó
Fridrik Thor Fridrikson is back with his first feature in quite some time. His last year documentary Sunshine Boy will screen at TIFF this year but it's been a while since he tackled a narrative subject. This time it looks like he is taking on a similar subject to his best known film, the Oscar nominated Children Of Nature. As far as I can tell, information on Icelandic films are really hard to come by for some reason, the story revolves around an old woman who is diagnosed with Alzheimer and how her family deals with that situation.

Brim (Undercurrent)
A collaboration with the theater group Vesturport and production company Zik Zak, the film is based on the groups play and tells the tale of a group of people working on a fishing troller and their interaction with each other. The film has a stellar cast, Ingvar (Jar City) Sigurðsson, Ólafur Darri (White Night Wedding) Ólafsson and Gísli Örn (Prince of Persia) Garðarsson.

Rokland (Stormland)
The first solo feature from Marteinn Steinar, who co-directed the gritty sci-fi drama "One Point O" a few years back. This is based on a local best seller and is about a man (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), stuck in a small village who gets everyone up against him with his blog page. Getting more and more isolated from everybody he decides to embark on a journey south to Reykjavik to assassinate the prime minister.

Laxdæla Lárusar (Adequate Creatures)
The new film from Olafur De Fleur, the man behind The Higher Force and the web series Circledrawers.
This time he goes back to his roots as he travels to his birth place of Budardalur, a small village west of the country to tell the story of a man who, against his better judgement, tries to revitalize the village slaughter house which is on the verge of closing down. Starring Stefán Karl Stefánson who is better known state side as Robbie Rotten in Lazytown.

Þetta reddast (Everything Will Be Fine)
From Börkur Gunnarsson comes a film about a reporter who's on the verge of fucking up his professional career and his personal life when he decides to salvage the two with a trip to the country side to write about powerplant and invite his fiance on a road trip.

Hátíð í bæ (December)
A drama from Hilmar Oddsson about a man (Noi Albinoi's Tomas Lemarquis) who returns from Argentina to spend christmas with his family and hopes to reconnect with his old flame who he left behind.

Reykjavik Whale Watchers Massacre
Readers of this site should know this film by now. Iceland's first horror film is about a group of tourists on a whale watching trip that get stranded on the boat when an accident happens. They are then rescued by a derelict whaling boat and once on board all hell breaks lose between the travelers and a family of whalers.

Algjör Sveppi
Based on a popular children's show, this is about two friends who get in to trouble from an international gang of criminals when the turn on an old radio amplifier that was sitting in an attic.

Jóhannes
First time director Steinar Bjarnason makes his debut with a comedy about a man who's day is getting worse and worse by the minute following a series of mishaps and awkward situations. One of the two completely independent films on this list.

Boðberi (Messenger)
The second feature on this list made with no help from the Icelandic Film Centre, and it's not the lack of trying that it turned out that way. Hjálmar Einarsson directs a film about a seemingly ordinary man who starts seeing visions of angels and demons around him. At the same time a masked man goes around shooting down some of the more prominent individuals in the Icelandic business sector.