directed by JON GUSTAFSSON
music by HILMAR ÖRN HILMARSSON
produced by JON GUSTAFSSON, KAROLINA LEWICKA
co-produced by GERARD BUTLER, JÓN ÁRMANN STEINSSON
produced by
ARTIO FILMS
and
GREAT CANADIAN FILM FACTORY
Produced in association with
CBC NEWSWORLD – THE LENS
Andrew Johnson
Supported by
THE ICELANDIC FILM CENTRE
Gréta Ólafsdóttir
written by
JON GUSTAFSSON
KAROLINA LEWICKA
cinematography
JON GUSTAFSSON
GUNNAR ÖRN HEIMISSON
SARAH MOFFAT
ÓSK GUNNLAUGSDÓTTIR
WENDY ORD
art design
ÁRMANN KOJIC
edited by
JON GUSTAFSSON
editing assistant
KAROLINA LEWICKA
legal council
PAUL POPESKI
accounting
ROSS AKIDA – Canada
KPMG – Iceland
special thanks
STURLA GUNNARSSON
PAUL STEPHENS
ERIC JORDAN
ANDREW RAI BERZINS
GERARD BUTLER
LAUFEY GUÐJÓNSDÓTTIR
ÁRNI PÁLL JÓHANNSSON
JUDY KOONAR
JOEL HAY
WENDY ORD
KÁRI STEFÁNSSON
GUNNAR ÖRN HEIMISSON
ÓSK GUNNLAUGSDÓTTIR
MARTEINN ST. ÞÓRSSON
MARIA VALLES
GRÉTA ÓLAFSDÓTTIR
MARTIN SCHLUTER
SINDRI PÁLL KJARTANSSON
ÁRNI BEN
STELLAN SKARSGARD
SARAH POLLEY
TONY CURRAN
RORY MCCANN
RONAN VIBERT
MARTIN DELANEY
ÓLAFUR DARRI ÓLAFSSON
INGVAR SIGURÐSSON
RUBY WOOTEN
CHARLENE ONDAK
FRIÐRIK ÞÓR FRIÐRIKSSON
ANNA MARÍA KARLSDÓTTIR
FAHAD FALUR JABALI
HALLI HANSEN
MARK WINEMAKER
JAN KIESSER
KRISTIE SILLS
ALINE ROBICHAUD
DANIEL PARKER
ERIK HIRT
FRIÐRIK KINGO ANDERSEN
ALEXANDRIA HORYSKI
ANDREW JOHNSON
JERRY MACINTOSH
ANNA LUKAS
ANDREA KISSER-QUIG
ARNAR ÞÓRISSON
EMILIANO MONACO
STURLA GUNNARSSON
Sturla Gunnarsson was born in Iceland in 1951. He moved to Vancouver with his parents when he was seven years old. As he grew up he became interested in filmmaking and went to the University of British Columbiawhere he completed undergraduate studies in English literature and graduate work in film studies. Part of the graduate program requires the production of a film. His, titled A Day Much Like the Others, went on to win top honours at the Canadian Student Film Festival and the European Student Film Festival. Icing on the cake was a screening at the Museum of Modern Art. With his formal education behind him, Sturla moved toToronto and worked initially at the National Film Board. His first project for them, After the Axe, received anOscar nomination for Best Short Documentary. He has since won a number of awards including Emmy Award,Genie Award and Gemini Awards, a Prix Italia, and the Prix Villes de Cannes.
STELLAN SKARSGARD
Stellan Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. During his early career most of his work was confined to his native Sweden. He is particularly associated with director Lars von Trier, having starred in three of the Danishauteur’s features, including The Kingdom, Breaking the Waves, and Dogville. Aside from these, his best-known Scandinavian work is probably his leading role as the guilt-ridden policeman Jonas Engström in the original Insomnia.
His best-known English language film roles include Russian submarine captain Tupolov in The Hunt for Red October, an engineer in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, an MIT professor of mathematics in Good Will Hunting, a young Lankester Merrin in Exorcist: The Beginning (and in Paul Schrader’s version, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist), Gregor in Ronin, the Saxon warlord Cerdic in King Arthur, “Bootstrap Bill” Turner inPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and Joe Heiser in Wind. He is set to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. He is the father of Alexander Skarsgård and Gustaf Skarsgård.
SARAH POLLEY
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Sarah Polley is the youngest of five children born to Michael Polley, a British-born actor (he attended acting classes with Albert Finney in England before moving to Canada), and actress and casting director Diane Polley, who died of cancer just before Polley’s 11th birthday. She attended Earl Haig Secondary School, but dropped out before graduating.
Her first cinematic appearance was at the age of four, as Molly in the Disney film One Magic Christmas. At age eight, she was cast in the title role in the television series Ramona, based on Beverly Cleary’s books. Though the series lasted but one season, Polley burst into the public eye the following year as Sara Stanleyon the popular CBC television series Road to Avonlea, produced by Kevin Sullivan. The series made her famous and financially independent, and she was hailed as “Canada’s Sweetheart” by the popular press.
Career
Polley appeared as Lily on the CBC television series, Straight Up. It ran from 1996–1998 and she won theGemini Award for Best Performance in a Children’s or Youth Program or Series for her role. Polley’s subsequent role as Nicole Burnell in the 1997 film The Sweet Hereafter, brought her considerable attention in the United States; she was a fan favourite at the Sundance Film Festival.
She was cast in the role of Penny Lane in the big-budget 2000 film Almost Famous, but dropped out of the project to return to Canada for the low-budget The Law of Enclosures. Her role in the 2003 film My Life Without Me, garned the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 2004. In the same year, she starred in a lead role in the stylish and successful remake of Dawn of the Dead, which was a departure from her other indie roles. In 2005 she starred in The Secret Life of Words, opposite Tim Robbinsand Julie Christie. She was nominated as Best European Actress by the European Film Academy for her role as Hanna.[1]
She made her feature-length film directing debut with Away From Her, based on the Alice Munro short storyThe Bear Came Over the Mountain. The movie, starring Julie Christie, debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2006 as part of the TIFF’s Gala showcase. The movie drew rave revues fromVariety, The Hollywood Reporter, and the three Toronto dailies, both for the performances of Christie and her co-star, Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, and for Polley’s direction.
Away From Her was acquired by Lionsgate for release in the US for the sum of $750,000. The distributor, which plans to release the film in the spring of 2007, is expected to launch a major campaign for Academy Award nominations, for Christie’s performance and for Polley as writer-director. Polley takes pride in her work and enjoys both acting and directing but is not keen on combining the two. “I like the feeling of keeping them separate. I find that really gratifying. I can’t imagine combining those. For me, I love the feeling of using different parts of my brain separately.”[1]
Political activism
Following the row with Disney, Polley dedicated more of her efforts to progressive politics, becoming a prominent member of the New Democratic Party, where Ontario legislator Peter Kormos was said to be her political mentor.
In 1995, she lost several teeth to riot police while protesting against the Provincial Progressive Conservativegovernment of Mike Harris in Queen’s Park, Toronto. She was subsequently involved with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Not wanting to be seen stealing the spotlight, she has recently scaled back on her political activism but remains one of the most engaged young actors in North America.
In 2003, she was part of newly-elected Toronto mayor David Miller’s transition advisory team.
HILMAR ÖRN HILMARSSON
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson is an accomplished musician, an art director, and allsherjargoði (chief goði) of theÍslenska Ásatrúarfélagið (Icelandic Ásatrú Association).
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson was a pioneer in the use of computers when composing music and cleared the path for new ideas in recording and arrangements. He has worked on ambitious, experimental and original projects with various musicians, such as Psychic TV, Current 93, Sigur Rós, Steindór Andersen and Eivør Pálsdóttir.
Other projects and collaborations
In 1984 Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson and singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir, who at that time were in KUKLformed The Elgar Sisters, Hilmar joined them next to Einar Arnaldur Melax, Sigtrygur Baldursson, Þorsteinn Magnússon and Birgir Mogensen to record 11 songs from 1984 to 1986 and disbanded afterwards.
The Elgar Sisters did not release any album, but some of their works were featured during the solo careers of Björk and Guðlaugur.
In 1987 Hilmar began to work with Current 93, a band led by David Tibet and collaborated with 10 releases, among them, he produced the single Crowleymass in 1987 and in 1991 produced Island, an album which featured singer Björk as backing vocalist on the song “Falling”.
MÖK Trio was a group formed by bassist Tómas Magnús Tómasson (known by his work in Stuðmenn), Hilmar Örn and Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson. In fact, the name stemmed from the initials corresponding to the middle name of each member. Their first gig was by 1992. MÖK Trio did not play regularly and they never released any album. Their last presentation was in August 2001 at Galdrahátíðin á Ströndum, Reykjavík.
In 1992 he started to record with singer and trumpet player Einar Örn Benediktsson (from The Sugarcubes) on a new project called Frostbite and released an album titled The Second Coming the following year through label One Little Indian, but after this, the band was dissolved.
His collaborations continued with sound engineer Andrew McKenzie in The Hafler Trio (H3ÖH) and in 1993released an album called Bootleg H3ÖH which contained remixes from Frostbite.
By November 1997 Hilmar and Einar Örn joined drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson to form Grindverk. After signing with FatCat Records they released their debut album, a 12-inch vinyl titled Gesundheit von K onJanuary 1, 1999.
With 4 tracks, Gesundheit von K encompassed a wide range of styles: from the industrial funk of the title song to the exotic jazz of “Kastrato”. Grindverk showed with this album a dark music, with free instruments proper of the funk music or post industrialism of the eighties but in the context of the nineties.
They were supposed to release an album called T.h.e.r.a.p.i.s.t.s by July 1999, but it was canceled as Grindverk disbanded shortly after their debut release.
Hilmar Örn & Sigur Rós: In 2000 he collaborated with Sigur Rós on the soundtrack to the film Englar Alheimsins (Angels of the Universe), which was directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. This 10-track album contained 8 songs composed by HÖH with his mellow soothing trademark sound (classical guitars, strings and synthesizers) and 2 songs created by Sigur Rós (“Bíum Bíum Bambaló” and “Dánarfregnir og Jarðafarir”). Later, he also worked with Sigur Rós composing and performing on “Hrafnagaldur Óðins”.
GVDL: Was another music project formed in 2001 with Guðlaugur K. Óttarsson and bass player Georg Bjarnason. The group was established for the arrival in Iceland by the American band Fuck. In fact, the name of the band were the initials of the American group shifted one place further. They only had one performance at Kaffi Reykjavík, without recording any track.
In 2004 Hilmar Örn collaborated with singer Eivør Pálsdóttir in a joint project between Iceland and Ireland and performed with other musicians from both countries in two concerts, one in Reykjavík and the other inTórshavn, in the Faroe Islands.
Score music compositions
From 1981 onward, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson has composed music for several movies, both Icelandic and foreign, and worked with film directors such as Henning Carlsen (Pan, 1995), Jane Campion (In the Cut, 2003) and Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (Brennu-Njálssaga, 1981 - Skytturnar, 1987 - Börn Náttúrunnar, 1991 -Bíódagar, 1994 - Cold Fever, 1995 - Djöflaeyjan, 1996 - Englar Alheimsins, 2000 and Falcons, 2002).
Hilmar Örn has received many awards for his contributions as a film composer. In 1993 he won the European Film Composer of the Year for his work on the Oscar nominated Children of Nature, the film by Friðriksson.
