RIFF attracts 8% of Icelandic population
by Annika Pham
The Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) attracted a record 25,000 visitors this year – nearly 8% of the Icelandic population – and saw a 10% increase in tickets sales over 2009.
During Saturday’s closing night ceremony, Italian film The Four Times [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michelangelo Frammartino
interview: Savina Neirotti
film profile] by Michelangelo Frammartino won two major honours: the Golden Puffin–Discovery Award and the FIPRESCI Prize.
The Church of Iceland Award went to Romanian director Marian Crisan’s Morgen [+see also:
trailer
film profile] while Marcin Wrona’s Polish title The Christening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marcin Wrona
film profile] received a Special Mention.
RIFF audiences chose to award Mike Ott’s independent US film Littlerock, a tale of two Japanese students stranded in a small California town who discover an America different from their fantasies. The RIFF Golden Egg Award for young, up-and-coming talent went to Faroe Islands director Sakaris Fridi Stora for The Passenger.
This year’s RIFF largely benefitted from the re-opening of the newly re-launched Cinema Paradise (Bioparadis), a four-screen arthouse multiplex, and of the Tjarnabio arthouse cinema. Next year’s RIFF will unspool from September 22-October 2.
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
