Presented in Faroe Islands Culture Days, see virtual screenings of some of the best contemporary film from the Faroe Islands in “Fog-Swept Cinema”!
From April 19 through May 5, 2024, a virtual screening package will be available with three feature films — the coming-of-age drama Dreams by the Sea, the surrealist feature 111 Good Days, and the documentary Skál — as well as four short films, showcasing today’s leading filmmakers from the North Atlantic archipelago.
Virtual screening packages are available throughout the U.S.
FEATURE FILMS
Dreams by the Sea / Dreymar við havið
Dir. Sakaris Stórá | Faroe Islands and Denmark, 2017 | 78 min
In Faroese with English Subtitles
On an isolated island, Ester goes about her mundane life, quietly obeying her religious parents. One day the rebellious Ragna moves to town, and while trying to protect her younger brother from their alcoholic mother, discovers an ally in Ester. Together the girls enjoy the summer nights, dreaming about something different, something better — but summer doesn’t last long on the Faroe Islands, and soon reality catches up.
A story of struggle, love, identity, and the desire to escape when everything seems to stay in place, Dreams by the Sea is based by a novel with Marjun Syderbø Kjelnæs, who will be present for the program “Literature From the Faroe Islands” at Scandinavia House on Wednesday, April 17. Learn more and register here.
111 Good Days / 111 góðir dagar
Dir. Trygvi Danielson | Faroe Islands, 2021 | 96 min
In Faroese with English Subtitles
Two lost souls with incongruent world views, Baldur and Teitur, meet again and again under strange circumstances in Tórshavn, and slowly discover a force that binds them together.
Skál
Dir. Cecilie Debell and Maria Tórgarð | Faroe Islands, 2021 | 75 minutes
In Faroese with English Subtitles
Twenty-one-year old Dania, who grew up in a Christian community in the Faroe Islands’ Bible belt, has just moved to Tórshavn where she is seeing Trygvi, a hip-hop artist and poet locally known as Silvurdrongur (Silver Kid). He comes from a secular family, and writes poems and texts about the shadow sides of humanity; Dania herself sings in a Christian band, but is fascinated by Trygvi’s courage to write brutally honest lyrics. As she tries to find her place in the world and understand herself, she starts to write more personal texts, which develop into a collection of critical poems called Skál (Cheers) about the double life that she and other youths must live in the conservative Christian world. Is it a sin to drink or dance? Is it a sin to have sex before marriage? And how long can you endure living between two worlds?
“A welcome lightness of touch” (ScreenDaily).
SHORT FILMS
Brother Troll / Trøllabeiggi
Dir. Gudmund Helmsdal | Faroe Islands, 2021 | 30 min.
In Faroese with English Subtitles
Once upon a time in the Faroe Islands lived three brothers. After one dies, the other two struggle with their different ways of grieving while generally getting on each other’s nerves. The beautiful rugged scenery of the remote Islands serves as a backdrop to this timeless story of brothers with very different relationships to religion, duty and family.
Stay / Ver Her
Dir. Maria Winther Olsen | Faroe Island, 2021 | 21 minutes
In Faroese with English Subtitles
Kristian & Dánjal go their separate ways after being together for seven years, in a love story about sharing, gaining, losing, doubting, and wanting and not wanting. Stay digs into the heart of feeling alone even when you’re with someone.
Memotekið
Dir. RAMMATIK (Rannvá Káradóttir & Marianna Mørkøre) | Faroe Islands, 2009 | 6 minutes
No dialogue
In this experimental short film by RAMMATIK, shot in the extreme and wild landscapes of the remote Faroe Islands, fragmented stories unravel in open and empty spaces. Free of dialogue and narrative, the minimalistic patterns of movements, costumes, music, landscapes and other components create an intriguing atmosphere, taking the viewer to a surreal and hauntingly beautiful universe.
Waves – A Portrait of Maria á Heygum / Aldur – Eitt portrett af Mariu á Heygum
Dir. Heiðrik á Heygum | Faroe Islands, 2010 | 8 min
In Faroese with English Subtitles
For the past 45 years, 85-year-old Maria á Heygum has gone swimming in the cold sea surrounding the Faroe Islands. Every day, no matter how harsh and cruel the weather, Maria makes her way down to the shore. This has become part of her; this is the place where, she says, she found her will to live.
Click on any image to enlarge and start slideshow.
A documentary exploring youth, religion and love on the Faroe Islands follows 21-year-old Dania, who grew up in a Christian community in the Faroe Bible Belt, as she develops a relationship with budding hip-hop artist Trygvi.
Two lost souls with incongruent world views, Baldur and Teitur, meet again and again under strange circumstances in Tórshavn.
The beautiful rugged scenery of the remote Faroe Islands serves as a backdrop to a timeless story of brothers with diametrically opposite relationships to religion, duty and family.
a love story about sharing, A Two lovers go their separate ways in a story about gaining, losing, doubting, and wanting and not wanting.
Memotekið is an experimental short film by RAMMATIK, shot in the extreme and wild landscapes of the remote Faroe Islands.
A documentary follows 85-year-old Maria á Heygum, who has swum every day for 45 years in the sea surrounding the Faroes.