02/10/2006

For its third edition, the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF), which wraps October 8, is keeping its promise to “strengthen and improve film and cinema culture in Iceland”, with the screening of over 70 films, the cream of the crop of recent festival titles (including 14 films competing in the New Visions section), and renowned guests, such as Aleksandr Sokurov, Goran Paskaljevic and Atom Egoyan .

As this year’s guest of honour, Canadian filmmaker Egoyan will receive a special award from Icelandic President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. Egoyan will host a masterclass, as will his Russian counterpart Sokurov (who will also receive a Lifetime Achievement Award), Serbia’s Paskaljevic, and Polish cinematographer Artur Reinhart.

Other special guests include two of the “Tipton Three”, ex-detainees of Guantanamo Bay prison who will attend tonight’s Icelandic premiere of Michael Winterbottom’s The Road to Guantanamo [+see also:
trailer
film profile], co-organised with Amnesty International.

The 14 first feature films competing this year as part of the New Visions section include: Falkenberg Farewell [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jesper Gastlandt (Sweden), Taxidermia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by György Pálfi (Hungary), 12:08 East of Bucharest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
interview: Daniel Burlac
film profile] by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania), Grbavica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbara Albert
interview: Jasmila Zbanic
film profile] by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Hotel Harabati [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Brice Cauvin (France).

The jury – comprising Iranian actress Niki Karimi, Icelandic-born filmmaker Sólveig Anspach and renowned Icelandic actor (and godfather of Baltasar Kormákur) Gunnar Eyjólfsson – will give the Discovery of the Year award at the festival’s closing ceremony next Saturday, October 7.