Cool Jazz and Coconuts

Islandia

2025

The Dance

1998

Águst Guðmundsson directed this Icelandic period drama, adapted from the short story We Must Dance by William Heinesen, and set on an island in 1913. Pétur (Gunnar Helgason) narrates, recalling the days when mainlanders arrived for a wedding. Flirtatious Sirsa (Pálína Jónsdottir) marries Harald (Dofri Hermannsson), son of a wealthy landowner on the island. Offshore, a ship is sinking, so the men form a rescue party, returning with the captain, the engineer, and several sailors. With a storm gathering, the engineer dies. The clergyman requests an end to the festivities as a mark of respect. Sirsa protests, but her new husband brings the celebration to a halt. The group then fragments into different activities, drunken or otherwise, and the sensual Sirsa directs her attention toward the handsome Ívar (Baldur Trausti Hreinsson). The film's score features traditional folk music.

Skinny Love

2024

When Emilý, a twenty-five year old content creator, learns that her long-distance girlfriend wants to move to Iceland and make their open relationship exclusive, she must face her anxieties about the future. All the while trying to support her teenaged co-worker and battle financial difficulties.

Nichts als Gespenster

2006

Episodes about different stages of relationships: from flirtation to falling out of love.

Pop in Reykjavik

1998

Popp í Reykjavík (Pop in Reykjavik) is a film about the vibrant Icelandic music culture of the late '90s. It was released in 1998 and features interviews and concert footage of promising Icelandic bands like Gusgus, Bellatrix, Maus, Ensími, Quarashi, Botnleðja and Sigur Rós.

Behind Schedule

1993

A French man from an international record company is sent to Iceland where he is supposed to find the next big hit.

Reverse

2015

Two childhood friends decide to drive around Iceland backward to raise money for charity. Soon after they set out, however, they discover that perhaps this wasn't the best idea. Nothing goes as planned - in fact, almost everything goes wrong.

Under the Glacier

1989

Our hero is Umbi (an acronym for emissary of the bishop), sent by him to undertake an important investigation at Snæfell-glacier. In particular he is to look into the conduct and behavior of Jón Prímus, the old pastor at Snæfell. Fantastic rumors are rife: amongst other things it is said that a corpse is lodged in the glacier! Armed with his tape recorder and notebook, Umbi embarks upon his mission. He tries to question the weird locals, a weird lot, but gets evasive answers. Slowly he is dragged into a quagmire of strange happenings and his efforts to understand only make him confused. If at the beginning he is a chipper, a mere device, by the end of the story he is inextricably involved, a committed participant in the bizarre events.

Choked Up

2023

A politician learns just how quickly things can go terribly wrong when a career-defining live TV interview goes off the rails due to a surprise coughing attack.

Ahead of Time

2004

More than twenty years after the premiere of one of the most beloved Icelandic films (On Top/Med allt a hreinu 1982) a sequel appears. A band which folded twenty years ago (they were even considered old-fashioned then) sees fit to stage a comeback. Indications point to a great future until the ghosts of the past catch up with the band in the form of a single mother and a jolly roadie. We follow the band not only through the magnificent Icelandic landscape but also through two continents and a brief spell in the other world.

Webcam

2015

A college student begins working as a cam girl, with support from her best friend.

Woman at War

2018

Halla declares a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect the pristine Icelandic Highlands she loves… Until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life.

A Man Like Me

2002

A postal worker falls in love with the Chinese waitress at a Chinese restaurant. They start dating and quickly fall in and out of love, the waitress returning to China. The young man looks for comfort in his father but he's too preoccupied with winning the Eurovision song contest. After listening to loser friends talk about what Sylvester Stallone would do in his situation, the postal worker decides to buy a ticket to China and follow his love to her home.

That Time at the Beach

2023

Leif, a man with a mysterious fear of the ocean and suppressed memories of bullying, confronts his former tormenter at a middle school reunion to uncover the truth, find peace and maybe understand what happened in his past

To Plant a Flag

2020

In preparation for the moon landing in 1969, NASA sent a team of astronauts to the lunar landscapes of Iceland. Their hi-tech training mission soon discovers what obstacles one can meet when facing an Icelandic sheep farmer.