From Iceland — ‘Leynilögga’ Competes For Finest European Comedy
Hannes Þór Halldórsson’s first function is making waves on the worldwide stage
It’s Tuesday evening, however the arthouse cinema Bíó Paradís is packed—principally with loud youngsters. They’re cheering and whistling, and one thing tells me they’re not seeing this film for the primary time. Earlier than the lights dim for the movie to start, a brief teaser is proven: “I’m not the most effective goalkeeper on the planet, and truthful to say I’m not the world’s finest director. However I’m the one one who has performed each.” For higher or worse, I’m already hooked.
From saving objectives to scoring a debut movie
Hannes Þór Halldórsson has principally made headlines at dwelling and overseas for stopping Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi from scoring on the 2018 World Cup. Sure, you learn it proper, this Icelandic movie director performed as a goalkeeper for the Icelandic nationwide soccer crew. “Football gave me unbelievable adventures and introduced me to locations that I might by no means have been with out it,” says Hannes. “I’m fortunate to have two jobs, and each of them are my ardour.”
“I used to be making an attempt to make it look as massive as attainable.”
Having beforehand labored on quite a lot of commercials, Hannes launched his first function movie ‘Leynilögga’ (‘Cop Secret’) final yr. “I used to be nonetheless knowledgeable soccer participant whereas we made the film,” he says. No less than half of the filming was performed in the course of the soccer season. Shot in simply an extremely brief interval of simply 20 days, ‘Leynilögga’ then spent nearly a yr in post-production.
An Icelandic tackle the cop comedy
‘Leynilögga’ is just not your common Icelandic film. For one, it’s an motion comedy with dramatic music and Hollywood-style (however nonetheless funds) particular results. The satire that runs by means of the film is unquestionably on level. You don’t should reside in Iceland lengthy to understand the joke in regards to the rivalry between cops from Reykjavík and Garðabær. “‘Scorching Fuzz’ was positively a film that I had in thoughts,’” says Hannes. “There’re plenty of motion pictures that we borrow concepts from. I’m not shy about that.”
The movie additionally skewers the standard masculinity police are sometimes depicted as embodying—in ‘Leynilögga’ cops may be emotional, and queer. “We wished to deal with the core components of the film with respect and with some seriousness, regardless that this can be a ridiculous or possibly loopy film, in some ways,” shares Hannes.
“It’s truly a extremely low-cost film,” he says. “It’s a low-budget film, even by Icelandic requirements. All people engaged on it needed to give extra to the film than they had been getting paid for and actually put their coronary heart and soul into it.” He continues: “I used to be making an attempt to make it look as massive as attainable and have a really feel that you just wouldn’t have seen in an Icelandic film earlier than.”
A nonetheless from ‘Leynilögga’
Finest European Comedy
“It’s a actually massive deal. I’m completely ecstatic,” Hannes says about ‘Leynilögga’s nomination. “The film has performed issues we by no means anticipated. It was all the time meant for the Icelandic market. However we actually made it with ardour and poured ambition and love into it. We gave it all the things we had.” He provides: “I feel that’s giving again now, as a result of the film has one thing clearly that goes a bit additional than solely the Icelandic shores.”
Having premiered at Locarno Movie Competition ‘Leynilögga’ has travelled to festivals around the globe, receiving worldwide acclaim. “It’s been stunning us for 2 years,” Hannes says. “Being nominated [for the European Comedy award] might be the final word shock. We by no means anticipated something like that.”
“It’s a troublesome competitors.”
Different motion pictures nominated in the identical class embody Fernando León De Aranoa’s ‘The Good Boss’ (‘El Buen Patrón’) and Catherine Corsini’s ‘The Divine’ (‘La Fracture’). “It’s a troublesome competitors,” says Hannes.
European Movie Awards are coming to Reykjavík on December 10, with the Gala Ceremony to happen at Harpa. Whether or not ‘Leynilögga’ takes the award dwelling or not, Hannes thinks his first function has been successful. “I couldn’t have requested for something extra. It has performed 100 occasions greater than I anticipated it to do,” he says.
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