Volcano leads winners at Iceland’s Edda awards

Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson’s feature debut Volcano is far from extinct, collecting five Edda statuettes at the Icelandic Film & TV Academy’s awards ceremony Saturday (Feb 18) in Reykjavik’s Gamla Bíó.

Rúnarsson himself scored three of the accolades – Best Feature, Director, Original Screenplay – while his leads Theodór Júlíusson and Margrét Helga Jóhannsdóttir received the Best Actor awards. The Zik Zak Filmworks production with Denmark’s Fine & Mellow had been nominated in 14 sections.

The portrait of a 67-year-old custodian and volcanic survivor now retiring, estranged from his family and with hardly any friends, was launched in Directors’ Fortnight at last year’s Cannes and has since won top prizes in Chicago, Denver, Montreal, Transilvania, Sao Paulo and Valladolid, adding the Golden Puffin in Reykjavik.

Volcano’s closest competitor was Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson’s Either Way, a drama-comedy of two workers with at the Icelandic Road Administration spending the summer painting lines on the winding roads stretching into the horizon. Their efforts were rewarded with three Eddas.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Best Feature:

Volcano (Eldfjall) – Dir: Rúnar Rúnarsson

Best Director:

Rúnar Rúnarsson – for Volcano

Best Original Screenplay:

Rúnar Rúnarsson  - for Volcano

Best Actress:

Margrét Helga Jóhannsdóttir – for Volcano

Best Actor:

Theodór Júlíusson - Volcano

Best Supporting Actress:

María Heba Thorkelsdóttir – for Our Own Oslo (Okkar Eigin Osló). Dir: Reynir Lyngdal

Best Supporting Role:

Thorsteinn Bachmann - for Either Way (Á Annan Veg). Dir: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson

Best Cinematography:

Árni Filippusson – for Either Way

Best Editing:

Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir – for Legends of Valhalla – Thor (Hetjur Valhallar – Þór). Dir: Óskar Jónasson

Best Set Design:

Gunnar Karlsson – for Legends of Valhalla – Thor

Best Costume Design:

Margrét Einarsdóttir – for Either Way

Best Make-Up:  

Ragna Fossberg – for Áramótaskaupid (The New Year’s comedy/TV)

Best Musical Score:  

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson – for Last Day of the Arctic (Andlit norðursins). Dir: Magnús Vidar Sigurdsson

Best Sound Design:

Gunnar Árnason – for City State (Borgríki). Dir: Olaf de Fleur Johannesson

Best Documentary:  

Last Day of the Arctic – Dir: Magnús Vidar Sigurdsson

Best Short Film:

Come to Harm (Skaði) – Dir: Börkur Sigthórsson