INDUSTRY THE VIEW FROM...
THE VIEW FROM…
To shine a light on Iceland, we talk to president of the Icelandic Society of Cinematographers Tómas Örn Tómasson, RVK Studios’ Steinunn L Gunnlaugsdóttir and CEO / founder of Truenorth Leifur B Dagfinnsson about the country’s incentives, offerings and hopes for the future ICELAND
WORDS OLIVER WEBB
T he Land of Fire and Ice is home to the oldest parliament in the world (established in 930 AD) and over 100 different words for wind, my personal favourite being hundaveður – meaning weather that you wouldn’t send your dog outside in. It is also renowned for some of the most stunning landscapes – glaciers, waterfalls, black sand beaches, volcanoes and lagoons – making it a filmmaker’s paradise.
The film industry is still very much in its infancy in Iceland but is rapidly growing. In 1979, the government launched the Icelandic Film Fund and around a decade later, Children of Nature (1991) was nominated for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards. After the 1999 Reimbursement Act and the establishment of the Icelandic Film Centre in 2001, it became much easier for Icelandic directors to
co-produce, secure overseas funding and reach global audiences. One of the productions to stabilise the country’s industry was the children’s TV show LazyTown (2004-2014) – LTS Garðbær Studios was built specifically for it. But the big breakthrough came in 2022 when the reimbursement incentive was increased to 35% and the producers of True Detective decided to shoot the show’s fourth season in Iceland.
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