After years of lobbying, Iceland is opening its first university-level filmmaking degree programme today.
Iceland University of the Arts is adding a filmmaking BA, with classes starting yesterday (August 29) for the first group of students.
The first 12 students, equally split between men and women, are a diverse group of Icelanders who range in age from 19 to 39. Some of them have prior filmmaking experience but that’s not a requirement for admission.
Steven Meyers, who is appointed the first head of the film department, told Screen: “The Icelandic industry has been calling for this program for years, and it also fulfills one of the primary objectives of Iceland’s new film policy. Until now, Iceland’s emerging film talent have had to go abroad to study at this level, but now, finally, they have the option of studying at home.”
Meyers notes that the “BA program is three years, following the Bologna model. We aim to start a two-year MA program in three years, to be ready once the first BA cohort graduates.”
Each student will receive a BA in filmmaking, with a concentration in one of these six disciplines: directing, screenwriting, creative producing, cinematography, editing and sound. There is also a research element to the curriculum and reflections on theoretical context of artistic practice.
Instructors for this first semester include filmmakers Ragnar Bragason (Children, Metalhead), Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir (The Swan), Fridrik Erlingsson (Ploey: You Never Fly Alone); Tanya Sleiman (producing), Erlendur Sveinsson (coordinator of technical disciplines), Gudrún Elsa Bragadóttir (history and theory), and Birgit Gudjónsdóttir (cinematography), among others.
Iceland University of the Arts has six other departments: Architecture, Arts Education, Design, Fine Arts, Music and Performing Arts. Currently IUA has locations around Reykjavik but a planned new building near Reykjavik’s Old Harbour will unite all the departments under one roof in coming years.
Other institutions that teach filmmaking in Iceland include the film studies programmes at the University of Iceland; Icelandic Film School, where Oscar nominee Fridrik Thor Fridriksson teaches; Reykjavik’s Technical College; and others that operate at the secondary level.
Iceland’s new ten-year film policy, unveiled in 2020, has four main goals: to create a thriving and diverse film culture that promotes the nation’s identity and supports its language; to strengthen film and media literacy; to be in a stronger competitive position; to make filmmaking in Iceland known internationally for its artistic quality and strong stories in which the local reality reflects universal human values. The concrete steps to achieve those goals include strengthening the tax rebate available in Iceland for foreign productions; increasing funding to the Icelandic Film Centre and creating this university-level film education as well as fostering more education at the upper secondary level.
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