Award winners

The International Film and Industry Festival Stockfish concluded over the weekend, marking the eleventh time the festival has been held at Bíó Paradís. Awards were presented in four categories for Icelandic short films, along with two honorary awards. The festival award winners were Bókin/The book by Flóki Larssen in the documentary category, Í takt by Hanna Hulda Hafþórsdóttir, who was also the recipient of the Eva María Daniels Awards, given in memory of the producer Eva María Danielsdóttir. Godspeed by Klāvs Liepiņš won the award in the experimental film category, and the music video “Myndi Falla” with Úlfur Úlfur, directed by Magnús Leifsson, received the award in the music video category. Additionally, two films received special recognition: the documentary Ég er bara Elma by Elma Dís Davíðsdóttir and the fictional film MERKI directed by Rúnar Ingi Einarsson.

The honorary award winners of the festival were Canadian/Italian director Floria Sigismondi and costume designer Dóra Einarsdóttir. Both were honored for their invaluable contributions to filmmaking.

Attendance at the festival increased from last year both when it comes to ticket sales and attendance to the industry events, panels and workshops. Admission was free, and for the first time since its inception, it was decided to allow cinema guests to pay what they could. The festival had an Italian focus while also embodying a surreal spirit, as David Lynch was honoured with a panel discussion and a sculpture of David Lynch, available for sale at Bíó Paradís. A number of events and workshops were offered, including a symposium on disability and inclusion in cinema, films with sign language interpretation and audio description, a screenwriting workshop, and master classes both with honorary guest Floria Sigismondi and also with Clare Langan, who has been creating artistic short films in Iceland for over a decade. The festival held events at Hafnar.haus and a music center, where there was a full house for a panel on film music and contract negotiation. The closing party of the festival took place on Saturday aboard the yacht Amelía Rós, hosted by Seatours, where festival guests were invited for a sailing under the red moon.