EVA MARIA DANIELS PRIZE FOR VITAL FILMMAKING
The Stockfish Film & Industry Festival (SFIF) today announces the Eva Maria Daniels Award for Vital Filmmaking, a new award for creators in the shorts program designed to honor the legacy of acclaimed Icelandic filmmaker and producer Eva Maria Daniels, who passed away last June after battling Cancer. With the support of Daniels’ partner Moritz Diller and son Henry, one standout Producer or Director in the SHORTFISH or SPRETTFISKUR competition will receive the inaugural award, commemorating Daniels’ achievements and continued contributions to Iceland’s next wave of filmmakers. The winner will receive 1.5 million Icelandic króna towards developing their next project.
The SHORTFISH or SPRETTFISKUR competition embodies a core tenet of SFIF, showcasing emerging talent from Iceland. This year, a lineup of 20 short films will participate in the competition. Four categories will be registered and awarded: Best Short Narrative, Best Short Documentary, Best Music Video, and Best Short Experimental. Chaired by Daniels’ long-time producing partner, Riva Marker, the jurors for the inaugural prize will include colleagues and peers of the late filmmaker including director, writer and producer, Elfar Adalsteins, Producer and composer, Nigel Godrich, producer Oren Moverman, publicist Jessie Cohen, director and film financier, Sascha Drews, writer and film financier, Will O’Connor, director, Gunnar Olafsson and writer and director, Borkur Sigthorsson.
Celebrating Daniels’ profound impact on the industry, this Award promotes the urgency to tell the stories—and to tell them sooner rather than later. In Daniels’ lifetime (July 5, 1979 – June 30, 2023), she produced nine feature films, all of which were acquired by major distributors and premiered at top film festivals such as Berlinale, TIFF, Sundance and more; her most recent films included Reality, directed by Tina Satter and starring Sydney Sweeney; Joe Bell, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and starring Mark Wahlberg and Reid Miller, and Hold the Dark, directed by Jeremy Saulnier and starring Jeffrey Wright.
Stockfish Film & Industry Festival, SFIF, is a non-profit organization, founded by the professional societies of filmmakers in Iceland, with a focus on establishing meaningful connections to implement and benefit cross-border collaborations between the Icelandic and the international film industries.
The 2024 edition of the Stockfish Festival will be held from April 4th to April 14th and it will mark the festival’s 10th anniversary.
With Hrönn Kristinsdóttir serving as the artistic director and Carolina Salas as managing director, the Stockfish Film Festival continues to unfold as an emerging space that creates powerful dialogues and nurtures a professional, open-source platform.
A platform to network, co-create, and provide better opportunities with a diverse approach to innovation.
Stockfish’s goal is to serve the community from which the festival springs, promote and enrich film culture in Iceland year-round, and be a lever for the Icelandic film industry both abroad and domestically. The festival focuses on presenting an ambitious program for festival guests, and only over 25 specially selected international award-winning films are shown at the festival. Stockfish’s Industry days program is always based on the needs and wishes of the film industry at any given time.