Erlendur Sveinsson

Movies

The Village Detective: A Song Cycle
Self - Former NFAI Director
Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Iceland, July 9, 2016. The surprising discovery of a canister —containing four reels of The Village Detective (Деревенский детектив), a 1969 Soviet film—, caught in the nets of an Icelandic trawler, is the first step in a fascinating journey through the artistic life of film and stage actor Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (1899-1981), icon and star of an entire era of Russian cinema.
Shells
Cinematography
Auður tries to get acclimated to the life on a small island, away from the stress of a modern community.
Kanarí
Writer
Vala and Benni are on the road and struggle to find a mutual purpose in their new destination.
Kanarí
Director
Vala and Benni are on the road and struggle to find a mutual purpose in their new destination.
Thick Skin
Director
At a local party in the suburbs of Reykjavik, Hanna (19) and Jonas (20) escape into the laundry room to share an intimate moment, but when boundaries are crossed the emotional aftermath of guilt quickly follows.
Thick Skin
Writer
At a local party in the suburbs of Reykjavik, Hanna (19) and Jonas (20) escape into the laundry room to share an intimate moment, but when boundaries are crossed the emotional aftermath of guilt quickly follows.
Elle
Cinematography
Alice is a college freshman aiming for law school. On the day her financial aid is cut, her secret identity is revealed to her classmates.
Altagracia
Assistant Director
Secrets and butterflies make for one hell of a dinner conversation.
Black's Game
Grip
In the mid to late '90s, the Reykjavik crime and drug scene saw a drastic change from a relatively small and innocent world into a much more aggressive and violent one.. The film tells the story of this change through the fictional gang of pushers that took control of Iceland's underworld.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Sound Engineer
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Sound Editor
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Music
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Producer
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Editor
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Screenplay
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Passio: A Painter's Psalm of Colours
Director
This film is about the painter Sveinn Björnsson (1925-1997), and his struggles to perfect his art. Following a wide-ranging exhibition at the Kjarvalsstaðir Art Gallery in 1989, he has become tired of the fantasy style which he had been developing for thirty years. What needed to happen in order for him to create something new? What sacrifices would it involve? This film is about that struggle experienced by creative artists. The film is not a biography, or a learned review of the painter's style, but it does show a side of the man which very few see. One evening, he feels he is not alone in his studio; it feels as if some being is there who wants to help him.
Give Us This Day
Producer
This one winter's day encapsulates a thousand years fishing and seamanship in Iceland. We gain an insight into an inner and outer world, where manual labour, man's beliefs in nature, Christianity, superstition and even magic are interwoven. We are questioned if we could imagine how this world of the rowing boat crew, wich reflects the ancient class-divided society, really looked like? How did they percive the nature around them, their God in this nature, it's unstable weather conditions, it's harshness when they go to sea to harvest its riches to make it possible for themselves as well as their nation to keep on living on the edge of the habitable world? Here we are face to face with the very foundation of fishing nation's culture.
Give Us This Day
Director
This one winter's day encapsulates a thousand years fishing and seamanship in Iceland. We gain an insight into an inner and outer world, where manual labour, man's beliefs in nature, Christianity, superstition and even magic are interwoven. We are questioned if we could imagine how this world of the rowing boat crew, wich reflects the ancient class-divided society, really looked like? How did they percive the nature around them, their God in this nature, it's unstable weather conditions, it's harshness when they go to sea to harvest its riches to make it possible for themselves as well as their nation to keep on living on the edge of the habitable world? Here we are face to face with the very foundation of fishing nation's culture.
Verstöðin Ísland
Editor
Verstöðin Ísland
Writer
Verstöðin Ísland
Director
The Icelandic Herring Industry
Sound
This corporate documentary describes one year in the production of herring, starting with marketing speculations and research of the year's possible catch. It shows the herring caught at sea, landed, salted, and tended to until it is exported after passing rigorous quality control. Intertwined with this story is the history of the herring industry in Iceland.
The Icelandic Herring Industry
Editor
This corporate documentary describes one year in the production of herring, starting with marketing speculations and research of the year's possible catch. It shows the herring caught at sea, landed, salted, and tended to until it is exported after passing rigorous quality control. Intertwined with this story is the history of the herring industry in Iceland.
The Icelandic Herring Industry
Screenplay
This corporate documentary describes one year in the production of herring, starting with marketing speculations and research of the year's possible catch. It shows the herring caught at sea, landed, salted, and tended to until it is exported after passing rigorous quality control. Intertwined with this story is the history of the herring industry in Iceland.
The Icelandic Herring Industry
Director
This corporate documentary describes one year in the production of herring, starting with marketing speculations and research of the year's possible catch. It shows the herring caught at sea, landed, salted, and tended to until it is exported after passing rigorous quality control. Intertwined with this story is the history of the herring industry in Iceland.
With Compliments from Iceland
Editor
All marketing is done through Coldwater Seafood Corporation, which is an affiliated company of the Icelandic Freezing Plants Corp. Coldwater also own and operate two fish plants in the USA, where they produce great varieties of processes sea-products. The film fallows fish from Iceland to the States, shows the marketing and distribution system and fallows the fish through quality control, processing and finally the distribution.
From the Icecold Deep
Editor
Educational film about the freezing industry in Iceland in 1981. This documentary illustrates the diffrent stages in processing of fish, from the moment of catching it to the packaging of the fillets for export. Special attention is drawn to the careful handling of the fish and quality control.
Óskar Gíslason, Photographer
Narrator
A documentary about a pioneer of Icelandic film making, Óskar Gíslason, with excerpts from some of his most famous work.
Óskar Gíslason, Photographer
Screenplay
A documentary about a pioneer of Icelandic film making, Óskar Gíslason, with excerpts from some of his most famous work.
Sjávarþorp
Editor
A documentary about life in a fishing village showing the people's dependence on the sea (filmed in Ólafsvík).
Icelanders' Day 1975
Editor
A film about the "Icelanders' Day" in Gimli in Manitoba in 1975, commemorating the 100 year settlement of Icelanders in Canada.
After 1100 Years
Editor
A film made on the 1100 year anniversary of the settlement of Iceland which gives an overview of Icelandic society and the natural kingdom which Icelanders have made part of their heritage.