In a small town in northern Norway, Eira tries to follow in the shadow of her brilliant and rebellious older sister Vera. Lately however, something is happening to Vera. In a bid to understand, Eira starts reading her diary. She enters Vera’s universe of intense light, glitter, mythology and hopes for a more beautiful world. Yet her diary reveals a darkness that leaves Eira confused.
19th century Iceland: Ingolfur, the son of an impoverished farmer, is courting a wealthy merchant’s daughter. Things are complicated when he’s wrongly accused of stealing sheep. Based on a true incident.
Sometimes the story preceding the making of a film is just as important as the work itself. Zach Breder, a young man living with a serious heart defect, had always wanted to shoot a movie and, with the aid of the Georgia Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he managed to do just that. This adventure story about a boy named Chris who, with the help of his friends, solves the mystery of his eccentric uncle, began as a “mere” dream and ultimately became a professional film which now celebrates its international premiere at the Karlovy Vary IFF.
The year is 1000 A.D. and young Leif Ericson has just fled to Greenland to escape the vicious plundering of his native Iceland. When Eric falls for a beautiful slave girl and his disapproving father casts a dark shadow over the relationship, the heartbroken young adventurer sets out on the uncharted seas to tempt fate and find his destiny in the New World. Subsequently forced to return to Greenland after learning that his father is in grave danger, Leif sets sail once again to help his father, and reclaim his one true love.
Harkening back to the apartment movies of the 1970s, "Footnotes" is the story of neighbors and near total strangers, Will and Apurna. When they begin spending lock-down together in the wake of the 2020 pandemic, what starts as a platonic convenience quickly develops into something more. But when a solo trip home to her small New England town puts a strain on their newfound connection, Will and Apurna are forced to reckon with what they mean to each other. Are they friends? Lovers? Or just more forgotten footnotes...
An Icelandic couple live with their herd of sheep on a beautiful but remote farm. When they discover a mysterious newborn on their land, they decide to keep it and raise it as their own. This unexpected development and the prospects of a new family brings them much joy before ultimately destroying them.
After an older lady hangs herself in a church, a new psychiatrist discovers she was obsessed with the disappearance of his eight-year-old son, who vanished three years earlier. Meanwhile, three city dwellers are restoring a house when they realize it is haunted.
Aaron is a 19 year-old with a close relationship with his family. His grandmother Pilar has dementia and wants to return to Salcedillo, the village where she was born and lived until they decided to move to Barcelona, but her husband and daughter refuse. Unable to accept his grandmother’s condition, Aaron wants to take her there to hopefully postpone the inevitable loss.
Through a film letter, Lara communicates with her great-grandfather Paco, whom she barely knew. She explains to him what has happened since he died.
Leif, a man with a mysterious fear of the ocean and suppressed memories of bullying, confronts his former tormenter at a middle school reunion to uncover the truth, find peace and maybe understand what happened in his past
When writer’s block threatens his career, Tómas, a screenwriter searches for a shortcut before time runs out.
In the middle of spring, a 7-year-old boy spends his weekend in the French countryside with his father. They will go together to the forest to give themselves over to an activity that will shock his innocence, with nature as the sole observer.
A meditation on memory around Iceland's famous Ring Road.
Sixteen year old Sam explores her relationship with a new friend during an anxiety inducing day at Grandma's.
After the death of her mother years earlier, Emily returns to her family’s farm in the south of Sweden to face the long avoided task of digging through her mother’s belongings. When her childhood friend arrives from the States for moral support, Emily stumbles through the murky terrain of trauma and grief, straining their relationship and forcing her subconscious fears to bubble to the surface.
Pétur is an optometrist happily married to Ásta. They are expecting a child but already have a 10 year old boy named Örn. On coincidense Pétur finds out that he is not Örn's biological father.
Jon, a middle-aged professor is going to get married tomorrow, for the second time, to one of his ex-students half his age. But it's not all roses. First, there's his cranky mother-in-law-to-be who violently opposes the marriage and who demands repayment of Jon's loan before the wedding night. Second, his plans to build a golf course on the little island of Flatey where they live aren't going at all to plan. Third, his extremely drunk best man is on the loose without any shoes and lastly, the continual presence of his emotional first wife is haunting his every move. When the guests start flocking to the island, Jon starts getting cold feet. After a very long night of drinking and thinking, will Jon be able to make it to the church on time?
Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, travels to Worms, capital of the Burgundian kingdom, to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Kriemhild.
Cultural historian Janina Ramirez presents a collection of intriguing and exciting short films by emerging female directors and artists. Each film gives a female perspective on modern-day topics from friendship and identity to freedom and belonging. Silent Pride; 0.5%; After the Break; Black. British. Muslim. Other.; Exhale; Hung Out to Dry; I Asked for Wonder; Midday; Sapphire of the Valley; The Skin I Move In; We know a better word than happy; Being Black in Northern Ireland
Based on true events, "Dissociated Me" tells the story of a woman encouraged by a renowned film editor to turn her chaotic Beverly Hills past - including the death of her mother at 12, teenage addiction, and a stalker ex-best friend - into a script. When unprocessed trauma blocks every word, she becomes desperate to heal: casting actors to play her family and revisiting childhood homes for locations - all without a script. As the film unravels, so does she, into the path of a car going 35 miles per hour. She lets go of the story she thought she had to tell and reclaims her life.