ABOUT SHORTFISH
Shortfish is an short film competition for Icelandic shorts held in four competition categories, where narrative films, documentaries, experimental works, and music videos are judged separately. The four categories reflect the vitality and diversity of filmmaking in Iceland today.
The aim of the competition is to draw attention to emerging filmmakers and to encourage high-quality work through awards that can help lay the foundation for their next project. The prizes are sponsored by KUKL Equipment Rental and RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service). The winning films will be broadcast on RÚV and made available on the RÚV online player.
AWARDS
One producer or director in the Sprettfiskur short film competition will receive an award of ISK 1,500,000 in memory of the accomplished producer Eva María Danielsdóttir.
In addition, awards are granted in four categories:
Narrative fiction ISK 1,000,000 equipment credit at Kukl
Documentary ISK 600,000 from RÚV ISK 500,000 equipment credit at Kukl
Experimental ISK 300,000 from RÚV ISK 250,000 equipment credit at Kukl
Music video ISK 250,000 equipment credit at Kukl
Narrative
Frávillingur
Director: Soffía Mjöll Sæmundsdóttir
Producer: Mads Friis Becquet
To prove her worth, a young farm girl offers to accompany her neighbour to fetch lost sheep from the mountains but unexpected feelings change her course.
Submit
Director: Samúel Lúkas
Producer: Kristín Ósk Sævarsdóttir and Lea Ævarsdóttir
A young and desperate director is given a difficult choice by the manipulative and
elusive programmer of a film festival, which leads him down a morally complicated path.
Embla
Director: Katla Sólnes
Producer: Jóna Gréta Hilmarsdóttir
A woman made from wood, is willed into existence by her maker and lover. Their relationship takes a turn when she mars her perfection by burning her finger.
Farewell, Row 9 Seat 1
Director: Jun Gunnar Lee
Producer: Jun Gunnar Lee, Reynir Skarp and Inga Malen Andersen
After being rejected from film school, a young cinema worker finds new hope and inspiration through a quirky projectionist and the magic of classic cinema.
Coming Home
Director: Salvör Bergmann
Producer: Salvör Bergmann
A young drug dealer must clean up his act when his addict mother is coming to visit him from prison on his birthday. As he attempts to tie up loose ends, his choices lead to a series of events that place those he cares about in grave danger.
Eliten
Director: Lovísa Dröfn
Executive Producer: Gabriela Uweis
Producer: Caroline Mikkelsen Pohl and Maria Lundedal
15-year-old elite gymnast Dagmar dreams of the national team, but a failed jump shatters her confidence. Now struggling with a mental block, she questions herself. Through her playful sister Nora (8), she rediscovers joy. As the final selection nears, Dagmar must decide—chase perfection or embrace who she truly is.
Documentary
Lúpína
Director: Orri Guðmundsson
The film follows Gummi Emil, a controversial personal trainer and influencer. Giving audiences unprecedented access to his daily life, revealing what truly drives him.
Rífast
Director: Sindri Sigurðarson
Producer: Sindri Sigurðarson
Rífast is a documentary about the music duo Kusk and Óvita. We follow them through the process of releasing an album, holding a release concert, and performing at Iceland Airwaves. Through interviews, music, and observational footage, we gain insight into their friendship, shared creative process, and their dream of making a living from music. Rífast is an intimate film about passion, ambition, and friendship.
Family Threads
Director: Holly Evans
Family Threads weaves together the untold stories of one small Icelandic family through delicate woolen stop-motion vignettes. Each scene is stitched together with yarn to bring to life moments of love, laughs, and losses.
Life Under the Mountain
Director: Alice Watterson
In 1868 the prosperous farmstead at Fell in southeast Iceland was destroyed by a powerful glacial outburst flood, bringing into sudden focus the turbulent relationship between the glacier Breiðamerkurjökull and the communities farming in its shadow.
NEW NARRATIVE
Smokebreak
Director: Rakel Andrésdóttir
A woman meets a fish during her smoke break and decides to go on an adventure with him.
In the Name of the Past, Present and Future
Director: Halldóra Líney Finnsdóttir
Producer: Halldóra Líney Finnsdóttir
An exploration of the values of Western culture through time. The film was shot in January, 2025.
Do You Believe Me?
Director: Anna Lovísa
Producer: Anna Lovísa
SAGES
Director: Þóra Hilmarsdóttir @thorahilmars
Executive producer: Erlendur Sveinsson
Producer: Sigríður Theódóra Pétursdóttir
SAGES is a music film for a new collaboration between artists Ólafur Arnalds and
Loreen. Written and directed by me. The film is inspired by the story of Frau TroCea, who
in 1518, suddenly began dancing – an event that triggered the infamous ‘dancing
plague.’ The film was shot on Iceland’s southern peninsula, near the sites of recent
volcanic activity.
The Question of Landscape
Director: Irene Gomez Gomez Emilsson
Producer: Charles Meunier
The Question of Landscape (2025), is an experimental short film by Irene Gómez Emilsson. It is a moving landscape shot through a car window with a bespoke sound design and voice-over featuring French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s text Eye and Mind translated into Icelandic. The installation aims to immerse the audience in its hypnotic movement and aural qualities to ultimately materialise the philosopher’s core concepts of ‘the flesh’ and of an infinite question, the question of landscape
DABB
Director: Vigdís Ósk Howser Harðardóttir
Producer: Kristján Ernir Björgvinsson and Vigdís Ósk Howser Harðardóttir
The year is 2035. Fannar attends a dinner with his girlfriend Lilja to meet her parents
for the first time. Their home appears ordinary on the surface, but the energy is
somehow off. In the United States, a civil war is underway. Hunger and poverty have
never been greater in the world, but Fannar and Lilja are on their way to a dinner.
Music Video
Tími, ekki líða (Official Video)
Director: Anna Róshildur B. Bøving and Simon Bendroth
Producer: Anna Róshildur B. Bøving
GKR – Stælar
Director: Magnus Andersen
GKR wakes up alone on a cruise ship, where events quickly take an unexpected turn.
Television Love
Director: Erlendur Sveinsson
Producer: Helena Hafsteinsdóttir and Kristín Larsdóttir Dahl
The conversation, a journey through time, landscapes & aesthetics. Television Love.
She Knows
Director: Tómas Nói Emilsson
Producer: Tómas Nói Emilsson
Haunted by a painful past, a quiet observer steps into a high society poker game, where an incident drags him back into the life he once abandoned.
Mirror
Director: Gyða Valtýsdóttir and Hanna Hulda Hafþórsdóttir
Producer: Gyða Valtýsdóttir and Hanna Hulda Hafþórsdóttir
The music video for the song Mirror by Gyða Valtýsdóttir takes a lyrical approach to the song’s subject matter. It explores how we see ourselves reflected in others, yet often struggle most with the mirrors that stand closest to us.