28/07/2016 - The director’s third entry in the festival is purely Icelandic, after his 2015 international co-production, Everest

Icelandic actor-director-producer Baltasar Kormákur – whose latest feature, Everest [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], boasting a stellar international cast comprising Josh Brolin, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley and Jake Gyllenhaal, opened last year’s Venice International Film Festival – will launch his new Icelandic production, The Oath [+see also:
trailer
film profile], as a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival, which unspools between 8 and 18 September. 

It will be Kormákur’s third entry in the Toronto-based gathering: in 2013, his feature The Deep [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] was selected for the programme before heading off on a tour of 36 international festivals (and before it won 11 Edda Awards, Iceland’s national trophy), while the first two episodes of his Trapped television series were on show in the Primetime section in 2015.

Also scripted by Kormakúr, with Ólafur Egill Egilsson (who co-wrote Trapped), The Oath follows Finnur, a successful heart surgeon and father of two. When his daughter, Anna, gets mixed up with a manipulative, drug-dealing boyfriend, his family life begins to unravel. And as the boyfriend’s grip tightens around Anna and the entire family, he feels he is forced to take drastic measures.

While Everest was an international co-production, The Oath focuses on Icelandic talent, with Kormákur himself in one of the lead roles (he also performed in his directorial debut, 2000’s 101 Reykjavík, and fellow director Óskar Jónasson’s Reykjavík - Rotterdam [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). He will star alongside Icelandic actors Hera Hilmar and Gísli Örn Gardarsson. It was produced by Magnús Vidar Sigurdsson and Kormákur for Iceland’s RVK Studios. The international sales are handled by LA-based XYZ Films.

Danish Dogme director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile] will also screen as a special presentation at Toronto. At the Berlin International Film Festival, it earned Danish lead actress Trine Dyrholm a Silver Bear for Best Actress, while it has now reached 302,000 domestic admissions for Nordisk Film Distribution.