It seems likely that the American remake of the Icelandic film Reykjavik Rotterdam will begin at the beginning of next year. Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur confirmed in a telephone interview with Visir.is that Mark Wahlberg will star in the film and Kormakur will direct it himself. Read the full story

Baltasar Kormakur, Iceland’s best known film director, has started work on a new high-budget Viking movie. This will be the most expensive film ever made in Iceland with an estimated budget of 60 million dollars. Read the full story

Hungarian news agency MTI reports that Iceland scored a huge success at the Titanic International Film Festival in Budapest over the weekend. Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur is the mastermind behind the piece ‘Bloodline’ which impressed the festival jury and filmgoers alike.

As the festival closed on Sunday, Kormakur’s film ‘Bloodline’ walked away with the main prize, the Breaking Waves Award. The award is not only a recognition of talent, it also comes with a financial prize of EUR 10,000.

The film follows a murder investigation including clues into the genetic bloodline of every resident of Iceland. It wasn’t just the plot which impressed the jury, however, it was the originality of the film as a whole.

The jury considered seven other films before awarding ‘Bloodline’ with the final prize. The film festival went on for 11 days and showed a total of 65 films from across the globe.

Baltasar Kormakur is known for his work as director on the acclaimed film ‘101 Reykjavik’.

Another Icelandic film, ‘Jar City’ also proved popular during the festival and was awarded a prize for the strongest film. The three person jury who awarded the prize noted that the film had exceptional characters, a strong message, a unique approach, along with national flare and characteristic visuality.

“‘Jar City’ is a criminal story which does uniquely balance real and ironic look inside contemporary Iceland,” said the jury.