A new student committee has taken over this semester.

New students committee at The Icelandic Films School

We have opened for admissions for Spring 2021. The semester starts January 2021.

CILECT yesterday announced the winners of their yearly short film competition among students.

Impressive success in the Cilect short film competition

Konni Gotta graduated from Acting at The Icelandic Film School and recently signed a contract with Áttan.
We had a chance to speak við Konni and pry a little about him, the studies and the future

I went to the theater when I was 7 years old and saw Stefán Karl play the dentist along with other roles. I was blown away and decided then and there that I would become an actor when I grew up. That thought never changed and I was always the clown in my group of friends. Then in 2010 I applied to study acting in The Film School and all of a sudden, studying was fun!

Film making is an amazing adventure and Konni has certainly found himself a part of it

What fascinates me the most about film making is how varied the job is. I love acting and writing material and I am the kind of person that can not be stuck in a certain routine and that is why film making is for me.
Stefán Karl, Jim Carrey and Robert Downey Jr are men I look up to, they all have an insane control of their bodies and that fascinates me completely

The school studies are not easy, but it is up to each pupil to confront it as they best can

I matured immensly at The Film School and the most important lesson I learned was to take risks, it is alright to fail if you learn from it. I also learned to take critisism. I had the urge to headbut my teacher Darren when he first told me I was completly messing up, but the slowly I learnt to accept it and then I was able to work on what I needed to improve

The first steps after graduating might have been small, but he took a leap recently

When I graduated from The Film School I had plans to work for one year and save up so I could go abroad and keep learning, but saying it is easier than doing it. When one has been studying his whole life and then finally gets a fair amount of money, one tends to spend it rather than save it and that is what happened to me. I worked as a truck driver both for MS and Papco, and then I often drove for different projects in between, like in advertising and such as they always need people with truck driving capabilities for them. I have done a bit of standup and been a presenter at yearly celebrations for companies and such. I acted in a few commercials and then I have been active on Snapchat both on attan_official and konnigotta .
Since I graduated unfortunately acting has only been a side line job for me, until now. I signed a contract at the end of summer with Áttan and now my job is a hell of a lot of fun. There I am able to put my ideas into actions, act, film videos, travel and so much more.
I have yet to play a major part in a movie, perform on stage and be part of making Áramótaskaupið, but give me 7 years and I will have completed it all and started focusing on my next goals

Here is one of the newest show from Áttan, but in it you can also see Hafsteinn Vilhelmsson and Mokina Orlowska, both graduated from The Film School and it was shot by Dagur De´medici Ólafsson :

There is no question that Konni is on the fast track in his carreer and we wish him the best of luck

Konni Gotta, a graduate of Acting, allowed us to pry a bit

During graduation tomorrow Saturday, we will as per tradition be awarding prizes for the best graduation films according to an outside jury. Four prizes will be awarded for the best films in each department and then the main award, “BJARKINN”, will be awarded to the best film from the spring graduates. 

The graduation group of spring 2018 is a plethora of talents and therefor the competition is close between the films. 

The school has worked since 2009 from the premise that an outside jury, formed by professionals in the front row of the Icelandic film and television industry, decides which films are chosen. Many of the elite artists in the field have been jury members for the school. By doing this, the school can put an emphasis on the productions being of enough quality for the best in the business. For the students the views and opinions of the successful people in the industry are valuable.  

The jury this spring is formed by the following persons that are in the front row of Icelandic film makers; Isold Uggadottir director (Jury forman), Agnes Johansen producer, Bjarni Felix Bjarnason cinematographer, Olafur Egilsson actor and screenwriter, and Hera Olafsdottir producer.

With her first film “And breathe normally”, that premiered last winter, immediately put Isold in the forefront of the younger generation of Icelandic directors. Isold has a long career of quality short films and a university degree from New York. 

Agnes has one of the most impressive filmography of Icelandic producers on IMDb of this century. From 2003 she has produced, or co-produced, 11 films and one grand television series. The latest being “Vargur” (directed by Borkur Sigthorsson) which is in cinemas right now. Among the films are “The Deep”, “The Groom”, “Reykjavik Rotterdam” and “Sumerland”. Agnes has worked with the companies of Baltasar Kormakur, director and film producer, through most of her career. 

Bjarni has shot 4 full length films and numerous documentaries. He has a wealth of experience in cinematography after more than 20 years in the field. 

Hera has had varied producing experiences before she took on the role of purchasing manager of national and Scandinavian material for The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. We must mention that Hera is one of the people that has put her mark on The Icelandic Film School. As Department manager of Directing and Producing between 2009 and 2011, she played a major role in updating the curriculum and organisation of production process that have been a great success.  

He is currently a script adviser for The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Known for his screen writing in the first series of “Trapped” and the film “The Oath”, which he co-wrote the script with Baltasar Kormakur. He recently received an award for the script of “Woman at war” at the Cannes film festival, which co-wrote with the films director. 

It is an honor for the school that these experienced film makers have given their time to watch so many films, value them and judge, and reach a joint decision for the award. Finally we must mention that as a respected art school, IFS has a policy that competing in the arts is always relative. But competition is always encouraging, success can be sweet and defeat empowering, but above all one needs to not take the conclusion too seriously. 

We invite you to be a part of The Film Schools graduation of Spring 2018 at Bio Paradis, Saturday the 26th of May at 1 pm. 

High profile jury in the graduating film competition

We have before checked in on Dadi Einarsson, a graduate from Screen writing and Directing, but it was certainly time to revisit. There are exciting times ahead at Myrkur Games and Dadi is a vital part of the making of “The Darken“, as you can read on Myrkur Games homepage ;

As Myrkur’s lead writer and performance director, it’s Daði’s job to shape The Darken’s story into tangible scenes. From writing scripts to directing actors and cameras, Daði pretty much represents the “cinematic” part of “cinematic experience.”

There’s a lot of excitement at the office these days, filming is set to begin next week and the entire company is in full swing getting everything prepared. We’re sound-proofing the space, ordering new equipment from abroad and doing lots of test shoots. It’s a lot like the last days of pre-production on a film, everything has to be in place before we start!If we do our work properly, we should be able to film the scenes in the game as if they were a theater play, with the actors doing it all in one go and the cameras and lighting added in afterwards. No concessions made.Right now, I’m in the middle of writing the script for the next filming block, as well as completing the casting for it. It’s incredible, these last few days I’m constantly noticing how invaluable my time at the Icelandic Film School was, both in casting actors I met at school and teaching me how to handle these sorts of stressful situations! It’s just like preparing for a graduation project, only this time it’s a video game and we’re using cutting-edge technology.It’s almost been a year since I started at Myrkur, and I say this every time but it always feels like we’re on the up-tick and moving forwards. New equipment, innovative technology and constant testing means we’re always looking at new exciting results.I’m very excited to start directing again, I hope it’s like riding a bicycle, because it’s been a year since I last directed something.

Dadi Einarsson, a graduate from The Film School, is looking at some exciting times ahead

Leszek Daszkowski has not made his disability stop his dream to study at the Icelandic Film School. Creative technology happened to be his choice and now he has finished the project that one might imagine being almost impossible for him to solve.

A deaf polish student at the Icelandic Film School happens to speak no Icelandic and therefore communicates through an interpreter. In his studies he was confronted with a challenging project working sound. Being expected to hand in a solution with a minute long sound file representing a feeling or an event did however not cause him til give up.  To enable himself to cope with this project Leszek wisely choose avalanche as a theme.

Having chosen Creative Technology as my field I am mainly aiming at cinemagraphy and editing as a future career. This course however also concentrates on sound in films so understandably I was not too taken with that part of the course. Anyway – Me and Olafur Fannar, head of Creative Technology had a good talk and later I sat down with Gísli (Magnús Torfason) who is in charge sound-technology and the computers at IFS and he tought me everything I needed to know, how to work out the computerprogram etc. No less important was being able to rely on my translators help to realize some of the sounds and I´m very grateful for having her insights to assist me.

Understandably Leszek found not being able to hear his own results in the project to be the hardest part.

Still, if there is a bass sound I can rather feel that then for example two people having a conversation, something I can hardly work with. But loud sounds and bass I can deal with. By holding my hand on a loudspeaker I can sense the vibration.

Having good descriptions of sounds in the collection of sound files in IFS was  a great help for Leszek. He was of course only able to use sounds properly registered.

Using all that made it possible for me to choose the most suitable sounds for my project and things looked good from reading the sound meter alone.

Only under such constrictions working on sound-projects will be possible for Leszek again.

Working on thunder sounds or explosions are suitable for me. I admit that coming to my first lesson I did not feel particularly amused by the idea of working on sound. But after Gísli started teaching me I grew confidence and started enjoying the whole experience. He also kept a good eye on me and showed up every once in awhile to guide me. Apart from that I worked on the project on my own.

It took Leszek a whole week to finish his work and the results are really impressive. 

Thunder sounds or explosions are suitable for me – Leszek Daszkowski can´t hear his own project

Is it not time to let your light shine in the world of film making? A wonderful opportunity is available to get a better insight on the studies we offer, within the school the four diplomas available are ;

Directing and Producing / Creative Technology / Screen Writing and Directing / Acting 

This Thursday, February 21st, we will have an open house from 1 pm to 4 pm, a great opportunity to get more information about the studies, visit a class in session and speak with the teachers and school staff.

There will be organized sight seeing tours of the school every 30 minutes from 1:30 pm to 4 pm.

Further information is available on our Facebook page 

The Film School invites you for a visit !

Recently The Icelandic Film School presented a new Twitter-account under the title IFS news, aimed to distribute film news from all over the globe.

Eysteinn Guðni Guðnason has been engaged as an editor. We were interested in learning more about  IFS news.

It is in IFS interest to follow all developments in the film industry very closely. We are not only putting our money on Hollywood and Europe but the world on its whole. It is our goal to be always up to date and present our followers with the hottest news available.

According to Guðni IFS news is not only publishing news with inside IFS information but answer readers questions on things in different parts of the world, being the newest star in Korea or which film just won a film award in Brazil?

Of course most of our news come from the USA or India – the largest producers on the market, but smaller countries are also important to us.

Eysteinn Guðni is a 31 year old country boy, a son of a minister who moved to Reykjavík to study film-making. He graduated from IFS in 2005.

I´m proud to be in the group of the first graduates to study at IFS after it changed to a two year course and since then I have been working in different areas of the business. I have been working on restoration of old video material and later I worked for awhile for Icelandic Cinema Online. Now aside with my IFS news work I am also entrusted with youth work for the Baha’i community in Iceland and in my spare time I have been in charge Icelandic film material for the Icelandic film web www.kvikmyndir.is.

One could jump to the conclusion that Eysteinn Guðni has found his dream job.

I would say that it´s a real dream job if you have fun doing it. Everyone should of course try to change ones hobby to a career if possible. Should it be your passion for the environment, working with kids or making music.  Yes, films and the internet happen to be my main interests – but what really makes working for IFS news a real dream job is the fact that I get to share all these interesting new with others – watching others discover something new because I shared it is a shear pleasure. For that reason I would like to have as many followers on Twitter as possible…

What makes working for IFS news a real dream job?- Eysteinn Guðni Guðnasson is IFS news editor

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson has taken on the job of dean of the Icelandic Film School through this year. He will be taking over the reigns from Hilmar Oddsson, who left last spring after having successfully done the job for 7 years. Friðrik Þór is one of Iceland’s most recognized film makers and has had a long and fruitful career both as director and producer. He has made experimental films, documentaries and feature films. In each category he has films that must be considered classics of Icelandic film making. Friðrik Þór has received multiple awards and acknowledgements in his career, but his most known work must be “Children of nature”, a film nominated for the Academy Awards.
Friðrik Þór intends to emphasize the making of films even further within the school and will be supporting the students in their film making.
We are quite proud and fortunate to have Friðrik Þór to head up our facility.

Nomina Sunt Odiosa, 1975 (shortfilm)
Brennu Njáls saga, 1980 (shortfilm)
Eldsmiðurinn, 1981 (documentary)
Rokk í Reykjavík, 1982 (documentary)
Kúrekar norðursins, 1984 (documentary)
Hringurinn, 1985 (80 minute fast forward around route 1 in Iceland)
Skytturnar, 1987
Börn náttúrunnar (Children of nature), 1991
Bíódagar, 1994
Á köldum klaka, 1995
Djöflaeyjan, 1996
Englar alheimsins, 2000
Fálkar, 2001
Niceland, 2004
Sólskinsdrengurinn, 2009 (documentary)
Mamma Gógó, 2010

As well as producing over 75 varied films

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson has been appointed Dean of The Icelandic Film School

The short film “Angel” was the graduation project of Haraldur Sigurjónsson that graduated from Screen writing and Directing fall semester 2010.

We got to talk to Haraldur and in his words:

I graduated from Screen writing and Directing in December 2010. By then I had already worked in the making of television shows and documentaries since 1997, or more than a decade. In January 2008 I decided to make a life long dream come true, to study screen writing. One of the very best decisions I have made in my life. At The Icelandic Film School I got to both listen to and converse with people such as Einar Kárason, Huldar Breiðfjörð, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, Guðný Halldórsdóttir, Böðvar Bjarki, Árni Ólaf Ásgeirsson, Sigrún Sól Ólafsdóttur, Hlín Agnarsdóttur, Hilmari Oddsson and many more, besides getting to know a large group of young and inspiring film makers and actors, many of whom are still my friends today. To add to it I also was able to make 4 pretty good short films that have been shown around the world. One of them even won “Short film days in Reykjavik” in 2010, the film “Do you have water?”. That film travelled far and got very positive feedback. My graduation film “Angel” however is the one shown here.Since I graduated I have mostly worked in editing and directing of various television shows, documentaries, commercials and the like. The screen writing studies did benefit me greatly even though I am not writing every day, because there are huge similarities between screen writing and editing. One has to sit alone for a long time to create something that has good structure, good flow and emotions so the audience stays glued to the screen.Among the television shows I have edited and/or directed are 5 series of “Andri á flandri” or “Andraland”, 4 series of “Hljómskálinn”, a 12 show documentary serie “Popp og rokksaga Íslands” and “Árið er: Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsstöðvanna”. In total I have won, with my genius coworkers, 5 Eddas for this show making and even more nominations. When it comes to documentaries “Spólað yfir hafið” is in the forefront, as I editied that for Andri Freyr Viðarsson.The future contains more of the same. Hopefully more episodes of “Hljómskálinn” and something fun with Andri Freyr Viðarsson. At the moment I am working a lot for SKOT productions, editing numerous projects, like the new show from Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon and more interesting projects. Personally I am also working on some documentaries and if there is time in he future, I hope to write the coveted feature film script

To celebrate the 25th year of operations of The Icelandic Film School, we will be showing 25 chosen works of our graduates from the past few years. This time we will be showing the short film “City lights” from the spring semester of 2015

The short film “City lights” was the graduation project of Olafur Einar Olafarson, a graduate of the Screen writing and Directing department in the spring semester of 2015

Speaking with director Olafur Einar, he said;

Besides getting an in depth knowledge into everything to do with film making, studying at The Icelandic Film School gives you an opportunity to create a network of connections with people that will be working in all aspects of the industry in Iceland. I do not have experience from film schools abroad, but in this aspect The Icelandic Film School is a much better prospect if you intend to be part of the film making industry in Iceland and work here. I am now self employed with a producing company called Arheim ehf. We str-arted shooting a big project last september

On the 23rd of February, we welcomed the lecturer Valdís Ösp Ívarsdóttir, who has recently had several lectures and discussion in connection with the #meetoo revolution. Her lecture „Where the boundaries lie“ is about the abuse of power, sexual harassment in the film environment, both in schools and the industry. We want to be free to make films on every subject in our environment, including sensitive topics and that is why drawing clear boundaries and mutual respect and understanding is important for everyone working on films. It‘s important to respect each other’s boundaries, teachers, students, actor, and crew. We want to open this discussion to make a better working environment for everyone.

It is also important to remind everyone of the school‘s response team, which handles cases of bullying, violence, and abuse. The team is comprised of Hlín Jóhanessdóttir, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, Hrafnkell Stefánsson and Inga Rut Sigurðardóttir. They can call on or direct cases to an independent specialist. Students can also call upon the student union, as a go-between,  Alda Rós Hafsteinsdóttir, and Elfar Þór Guðbjartsson.

We had a full house at the lecture and important issues were discussed and examined and we would like to thank Valdís for this wonderful opportunity

We had a successful lecture at the school last week

Elsa G. Björnsdóttir is a graduate from Acting at the Film School and has had great success with her short film „Kári“. We contacted Elsa and got to hear about the process, the idea behind the film and what compelled her to dive into the world of cinema

I do not remember myself not having a passion towards acting and film making. It is hopeless for me to answer what initially drew me in, I just remember the acting bug completely got me when I was approximately seven years old and I got a small part in the film „The House“. I truly love the work and as I have not gotten many opportunities to act in others work, I will create work for myself. The platform is perfect to tell stories in a visual manner, I only wish I could be both in front of the camera as well as behind it at the same time.

Elsa has raised a great deal of awareness for the deaf Community for years and her film is bringing even more education to the public of the situation and adversity they faced before

The short film „Kári“ is actually a collective of, on the one hand fiction, and on the other many small stories, both factual as well as from word of mouth with in the Deaf Community, where everyone recognizes the era when sign language was banned and families used home made signs for the simplest of communications. Deaf people that were located out in the country side were torn from their families without any explanation or even having an understanding of what was happening. The next of kin, in particular some parents, still feel the pain of having to send their young children away to boarding schools without even being able to give them an explanation of what was happening, and it is vital to pass those stories on to the next generation to avoid anything like that happening again.

Elsa’s experience of the film making adventure was extremely positive and she easily overcame any hindrances

The process went unbelievably well, to start with, both the preparation and the shoot went as smoothly as possible, because I had an elite group of actors and film crew, but when the money ran out after shooting and rough editing, everything stopped for a few weeks and I could not finish sound tracking and sound editing. I then thought I might give Karolina Fund a try, to see if anyone was willing to contribute to finishing the film in time for deadline of submissions for the Clin d’Oeil festival and that was amazing, especially as 2 days before the fundraising stopped, I still only had 50 % of what I needed. I actually think everything regarding „Kári“ has gone remarkably well because there were some things and scenes around the film that should not have worked but still did ! There is some potent charm attached to the film and I believe this film was supposed to become a reality, no matter what, and I truly get goosebumps when I think about this adventure as a whole.

The film has garnered some well deserved attention and will undoubtedly continue, receiving awards, both for Best Director and Best Film, at the Clin d’Oeil film festival

The films journey after finishing has started with a bang, two awards at the first film festival it was entered to, which I in no way expected as the competition was a lot harder this year. The festival had films of better quality as well as an increase of competitors, fourteen brilliant short films and fourteen directors, many of whom have much more experience than I do, and there they were competing for the same prize. I can only imagine that the future will be bright for „Kári“.

The future is bright and the journey of „Kári“ is far from finished

The film will next be submitted to a film festival in Spain, who’s deadline is in August and will then be premiered in Reykjavik in the fall as well as being booked for a festival in Stockholm in November. The plan is to find more film festivals to send it to during the next few weeks. I unfortunately did not have time until after my graduation to look into the steps forward for „Kári“, as I decided to put my Bachelors Degree studies as a priority and focus on my studies and graduating from the University of Iceland, but I truly look forward to follow through with the film now.

As mentioned before, „Kári“ will be shown in Reykjavik in the fall and it will be interesting to follow the film in the future months. We wish Elsa and „Kári“ the best of luck

“Kári”, a film by Elsa G. Björnsdóttir, recently won awards at an international film festival

The Icelandic Film School Festive Season Program

Search results

New students committee at The Icelandic Films School

Open for admissions Spring 2021

Impressive success in the Cilect short film competition

Test

Konni Gotta, a graduate of Acting, allowed us to pry a bit

The Icelandic Film School for 25 years

High profile jury in the graduating film competition

Dadi Einarsson, a graduate from The Film School, is looking at some exciting times ahead

Thunder sounds or explosions are suitable for me – Leszek Daszkowski can´t hear his own project

The Film School invites you for a visit !

What makes working for IFS news a real dream job?- Eysteinn Guðni Guðnasson is IFS news editor

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson has been appointed Dean of The Icelandic Film School

“Angel” is our next short film

25 films for 25 years

Frostbiter next weekend

We had a successful lecture at the school last week

“Kári”, a film by Elsa G. Björnsdóttir, recently won awards at an international film festival

The Icelandic Film School Festive Season Program

Diplomas

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