Heartstone | |
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Hjartasteinn | |
Directed by | Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson |
Written by | Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson |
Cinematography | Sturla Brandt Gøvlen [1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 129 minutes |
Country | Iceland |
Language | Icelandic |
Heartstone (Hjartasteinn) is a 2016 Icelandic drama film directed by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson. [2] It tells the story of a strong friendship between two preteen boys in a small Icelandic fishing village and the emotional and sexual turbulence of adolescence. [3]
It was screened in the Discovery section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. [4] On 9 September 2016, the film won the Queer Lion at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. [5] It was the first Icelandic film to be shown in a competitive section of the Venice Film Festival. [6] It was also nominated for the 2017 Nordic Council Film Prize [7] and won the 2017 Icelandic Edda Awards. [8]
The film is Guðmundur's first feature-length film and he began working on the script in 2007. [1] It was shot in the fall of 2015 in Borgarfjörður eystri, Seyðisfjörður, Vopnafjörður, and Dyrhólaey. [9] [10]
The film was well received in Iceland [1] and won the 2017 Icelandic Edda Awards. [8] The script, the dialogue, and the directing of young actors received praise. [1] The cinematography by Sturla Brandt Gøvlen amplified Icelandic nature, with long shots of coastlines and fjords. [1]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6.97/10. [11] On Metacritic, which assigns rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [12]