“Godland” (Volaða land) is Finland’s candidate for the 2024 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. It is a drama film written and directed by Hlynur Pálmason, 38,
Hlynur Pálmason
Hlynur was born Höfn, Hornafjörður, Iceland. Aside from filmmaking, he is also into visual arts.
In 2013, Hlynur graduated from Den Danske Filmskole in Copenhagen, Denmark. After living in Denmark for 10 years, he returned to Höfn.
Released at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland, “Winter Brothers” was Hlynur’s debut feature film, which was filmed in Denmark. The film earned him the Robert Award for Best Director.
Released at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 16, 2019, Hlynur’s second feature film “A White, White Day” was Iceland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 2019 Academy Awards but it was not nominated. It starred his daughter Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir and Icelandic actor Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson.
“Godland“
On May 24, 2022, “Godland” premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. It is distributed by Sena in Iceland, Scanbox Entertainment in Denmark, Folkets Bio in Sweden and Jour2Fête in France.
Set in the late 1800s, the film is about a Danish priest named Lucas played by Danish-American actor Elliott Hove Crosset, 35. The character is tasked with traveling to Iceland and building a church in a Danish settlement.
Lucas meets Ragnar (Sigurðsson), an Icelandic guide who harbors a distrust of Danes. After fainting from exhaustion, Lucas is nursed back to health by a man named Carl (Jacob Lohmann) and his daughters Anna (Vic Carmen Sonne) and Ida (Ída).
“There were travel books written about this southern part of Iceland because it surrounds a glacier and it’s drawn travelers for a long time,” Pálmason told The Wrap. “I also read letters of boatmen from the time and I dug into the history of the Danish Crown. I wanted to get a feeling of the time and place but you can become a bit stiff if you do too much research.”
“The characters speak a bit more modern in the film, for example,” the “Godland” director continued. “I didn’t need it to be 100% accurate.”
2024 Academy Awards
Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, 56, the 2024 Academy Awards will be aired by ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA on March 10, 2024. Directed by Hamish Hamilton, the ceremony will be produced by Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan.
This is the 96th edition of the awards ceremony also known as the Oscars and the fourth time Kimmel is hosting it. The ceremony is annually presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is based in Beverly Hills, California.
On December 21, 2023, it was announced that “Godland” is one of the 15 shortlisted films for the 2024 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. On January 23, 2024, the official nominees will be revealed.
CONAN Daily 