Hlynur Palmason’s Cannes Un Certain Regard 2022 standout Godland will be the Icelandic contender in the 2024 Oscar race for best international feature.
The film also played at Telluride and Toronto 2022. In the US, Janus Films handled the theatrical release in early 2023, followed by a Criterion Channel streaming premiere.
Godland is produced by Katrin Pors, Eva Jakobsen and Mikkel Jersin of Denmark’s Snowglobe and Anton Máni Svansson of Iceland’s Join Motion Pictures. The companies previously collaborated on A White, White Day (also Iceland’s Oscar submission in 2020) and Palmason’s Berlinale-selected short NEST. Svansson has been collaborating with Palmason since his 2014 short Seven Boats.
Godland is set in the late 19th century, when a young Danish priest (Elliott Crosset Hove) travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, his mission and morality. The cast also features Ingvar Sigurðsson, Vic Carmen Sonne, Jacob Hauberg Lohmann, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Waage Sandø and Hilmar Guðjónsson.
New Europe Film Sales handles international sales, as they did with Palmason’s previous two features, A White, White Day and Winter Brothers.
Co-producers are Didar Domehri of Maneki Films (France), Anthony Muir and Peter Possne of Film I Väst (Sweden), Mimmi Spång of Garagefilm International (Sweden) and Iceland’s Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson. Backers include Danish Film Institute, Icelandic Film Centre, CNC, Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Creative Europe MEDIA, Hornafjörður Municipality, SASS, DR, RUV, Sena, Scanbox and New Europe Film Sales.
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