25/07/2017 - After rising to prominence with Of Horses and Men, the Icelandic director is now working on his second feature, a Slot Machine and Gulldrengurinn production

On 11 July, filming kicked off on Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s film Woman at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile], his second feature film after Of Horses and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile], which took home the main award in the New Directors section of San Sebastián in 2013 before going on to bag several other accolades (winning the Nordic Film Council Prize in 2014, becoming the Icelandic candidate for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Les Arcs European Film Festival, etc.). For his upcoming opus, which he defines as an “environmental arthouse thriller”, and which is being executively produced by France and Iceland, the filmmaker has cast Halldóra Geirhardsdóttir in the lead role (who also starred Of Horses and Men and took home the Eda for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for his performance in Metalhead [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Written by the director and Olafur Egill Elingsson, the screenplay centres around a single 50-year-old woman who declares war on the heavy industry in her town all by herself. She resorts to sabotage and is willing to risk everything for nature and these virgin highlands… until a Ukrainian orphan enters her life.

Produced by Marianne Slot and Carine Leblanc for Parisian company Slot Machine and by Icelandic outfit Gulldrengurinn, Woman at War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile] is being co-produced by Solar Media Entertainment, Köggull and Vintage Pictures with the support of the CNC via its Aid for World Cinema fund, Eurimages, the Icelandic Film Fund, Ukrainian State Film Agency, Nordic Film & Tv Fund,  Creative Europe Programme (Media) and the Gan Foundation for Film. Filming will continue until 1 September in Iceland and the Ukraine. The film will be released in France by Jour2Fête, whilst international sales are being handled by German company Beta Cinema.

On 6 August, Slot Machine will release its executive production A Gentle Creature [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile] by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa in France (the film was unveiled in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and is being distributed in France by Haut et Court), and also recently co-produced The House That Jack Built by Dane Lars von Trier, which is currently in post-production.

(Translated from French)