The Swan
by Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir
Iceland/Germany/Estonia 2017, 91 min.
As free-spirited as the waves, a young girl finds herself after meeting her soulmate.
In contemporary rural Iceland, a wayward 9-year old girl, Sól, is sent to distant countryside relatives for a summer to work and to mature. Nature seems endless there, the animals soulful but the people harsh. All except the mysterious farmhand Jón, who – as Sól herself – likes words better than people. But the farmers’ daughter Ásta has a claim on Jón as well, and soon Sól becomes entangled in a drama she hardly can grasp. This summer marks Sól’s rite of passage into the murky waters of adulthood, and the wild nature in us all.
Awards
Best Director (Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir) - Kolkata IFF 2017
Best Film (International Critics' Week) - Cairo IFF 2017
Jury Special Mention Award - Santa Barbara IFF 2018
Special Mention (International Competition section) - Skip City IFF 2018
Premio Lab80 - AVANTI! - Napoli FF 2018
Festivals
World Premiere: Toronto IFF 2017
Hamburg FF 2017
Leiden IFF 2017
Rome FF - Alice nella città 2017
Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2017
Thessaloniki IFF 2017
Noordelijk FF 2017
Ljubljana IFF 2017
Mannheim-Heidelberg IFF 2017
European Film Forum Scanorama 2017
Kolkata IFF 2017
Black Nights FF 2017
Cairo IFF 2017
Kerala IFF 2017
Göteborg FF 2018
Santa Barbara IFF 2018
Victoria FF 2018
Glasgow FF 2018
Prague IFF – Febiofest 2018
BUFF Malmö IFF for Children & Young People 2018
Titanic Budapest IFF 2018
Northern Lights FF 2018
Nashville FF 2018
Bucharest IFF 2018
Cinema Jove IFF 2018
Scandinavian FF (AU) 2018
Skip City IFF 2018
Shetland Screenplay FF 2018
Helsinki IFF 2018
Vladivostok IFF Pacific Meridian 2018
Napoli FF 2018
Riga IFF 2018
Tofifest IFF 2018
Helsinki IFF Love & Anarchy Festival tour 2018
Hainan IFF 2018
North Atlantic Bridge in Copenhagen 2019
Rovaniemi Film Klub 2019
FESTIVAL RÉSISTANCES 2019
Icelandic FF (IN) 2019
Museum «Victoria - the Art of Being Contemporary" 2021
Cast & Crew
Gríma Valsdóttir, Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson, Þuríður Blær Jóhannsdóttir, Kalta Margrét Þorgeirsdóttir, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson
Production: Vintage Pictures, Junafilm, Kopli Kinokompanii
Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir
Ása Hjörleifsdóttir is an Icelandic writer and director, born in 1984 in Reykjavík. Ása completed a BA in Comparative Literature from the University of Iceland and La Sorbonne - Paris IV Université, and worked for a while as a book critic for the Iceland National Radio before she decided to move to New York City and pursue her true love, filmmaking. She graduated from the Columbia University Film MFA program in 2012. Ása has written and directed a number of short films, most notably the award-winning Ástarsaga ("Love Story"), a 2013 finalist for a Student Academy Award, and Þú og ég ("You and Me"). Her first feature film, "The Swan", an adaptation of the critically acclaimed Icelandic novel of the same name, will have its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
