Sigfús Guðmundsson

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.

Icelandic scientists and laymen throughout the countryside have monitored volcanoes and earthquake zones for a long time. In recent years, technical equipment has been developed which enables much more effective work. Included are seismometers and inclinometers, devices which can detect small changes in land elevation in volcanic areas. A network of such monitors and seismometers is now in use, monitoring for example, Mt. Hekla, Katla and the Krafla volcano as well the main earthquake zone in S-Iceland. There is a new inter-Nordic project which aims at developing forecasts for earthquakes.

Jan Mayen is a narrow island, 50 km long, northeast of Iceland. It belongs to Norway which has a weather- and military station situated there. The island is uninhabited but still has remains of the whaling and fox hunting that once took place there. Birdlife is abundant and a very beautiful stratovolcano, Beerenberg (2200m) crowns the island. The volcano is active, last eruptions occurring in 1970 and 1984.

Dog Feelings is about a dog and his views of the world outside his closed space. This dog has a feeling that something bad is about to happen. Unable to prevent it he tries to warn the humans on the other side of the wall.

A documentary film about the Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness, who received the Nobel Prize in 1955 for "... renewing the Icelandic tradition of saga-literature and the Icelandic language". The film gives a portrait of this great writer who was very much disliked as a young artist, when he was describing the situation in Iceland between the first and the second world wars. To date, he has written over 70 books, novels, essays, plays and memories which have been translated into more than 50 languages.

A story based on the folk tale of the ghost Djákninn from Myrká set in modern day Iceland.

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.

This corporate documentary was made for the 70th anniversary of the Icelandic Federation of Labour, and shows the structure and development of this large union.

The film tells the story of a young farmgirl moving to Reykjavík after the second world war, and her attempts to adapt to the city life.

Clay animation. The story of an industrial worker whose inflated ego produces a monster.

A film about the famous Icelandic ballet dancer Helgi Tómasson.

The growing up of a Reykjavík boy.

A film about a typical winter season on board an Icelandic fishing boat. The boat, Gunnar Jónsson, starts off from the Westman Islands and is at first mainly engaged in capelin fishing for fishmeal production. When January comes, the men start preparing for the traditional cod fishing period.

A documentary about a pioneer of Icelandic film making, Óskar Gíslason, with excerpts from some of his most famous work.

Filmed against the background of the mountainous north of Iceland with its magnificent scenery, this film shows the life of a lone farmer in an isolated fjord, whose inhabitants have slowly deserted it for the relative ease and comfort of the city life. This farmer, however, is too attached to his land and persist in remaining there, despite the difficulties he has to confront. Through his eyes and those of his peers, the trend of Icelandic society away from traditional agriculture towards industrialisation is viewed with sympathetic regret.

Tells the story of a young man who falls overboard and seems to be the only survivor of a shipwreck. The first icelandic stop-motion film.