5th – 7th of December 2008

From the 5th to the 7th of december a festival dedicated to icelandic film and music will be held at the renown cinema, LA FILMOTHEQUE, in Paris.

On the program there are 12 feature films and 2 shorts. The selection of films is a variety of new icelandic movies, such as; Back Soon by Sólveig Anspach and Jar City, by Baltasar Kormákur, as well as Children by Ragnar Bragason and theatre group Vesturport. Homage will be paid to the history of icelandic cinema by screening 3 films from veteran director, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, Children of Nature, Angels of the Universe and Falcons. The icelandic music scene will be visited in the film Heima, a documentary about the Sigur Rós tour around Iceland in summer 2007. A special screening will be held with the film Eleven Men Out by Róbert Douglas will be screened in association with the Salon International Gay & Lesbian Friendly and more interesting films are on the program.

The 2 short films are Two Birds by Rúnar Rúnarsson and Wrestling by Grímur Hákonarsson. By selecting these two shortfilms Air d’Islande is giving french audience a glimpse into the future of icelandic cinema, since both these directors have received plenty of awards for their films during the past years. We are all anxious to see their first features, which should be coming out in near future.

Directors Sólveig Anspach and Dagur Kári Pétursson will attend the screenings of their films and to discuss with the viewers. It is a great honor for us at Air d’Islande to have these two prominent director coming to discuss with french audience, but it is often said that there are as many film directors as there are french citizens. Such is the passion and interest the french have for cinema.

The music part of the festival is dedicated to the young Þórir Georg Jónsson, also known as My Summer As A Salvation Soldier. Þórir is a multi-talented musician; he is also a member in the fantastic rock group Gavin Portland, as well as Fighting Shit and Terror Attack, as well as country-trash band, Death Metal Super Squad, just to name a few things.

Þórir will perform at the festival as My Summer As A Salvation Soldier and play on his guitar and sing for the audience. He has been compared to Lou Reed, Xiu Xiu, Neil Young and Nick Drake. Not bad for a 22 year old, and we at Air d’Islande predict a bright shining future for Þórir and are honored that he is available to perform for us.

Festival guests also have the opportunity to win 2 tickets to Iceland with Icelandair, and when there you get tickets for 2 to the Blue Lagoon and a nice dinner for 2 at the Three Frenchmen restaurant in Reykjavík. Festival guests are able to enjoy not only icelandic culture in Paris, but as well to enjoy icelandic cultural experience first hand.

The festival will take place at LA FILMOTHEQUE in Paris, located on 9, Rue Champollion, 75005 in Paris.

For further information contact Ari Allansson, festival director at ari (at) airdislande (dot) com

Enjoy!

Air d’Islande staff

This festival is organized by Crystal Clear, a non-profit organisation established on the idea to promote art, in innovative and efficient ways, and in total transparency regarding the funds it uses.