The Swan (Iceland)

Drama /  91 min / Iceland

Contemporary, rural Iceland is the picturesque backdrop for a remarkable coming of age story as Sól, a clever yet wayward 9 year old, must spend the summer on her relative’s farm to work and mature.

Once there, she finds herself caught in the midst of an unrealized romance between Jón, an enigmatic farmhand, and Ásta, the farmer’s daughter. This will ultimately mark Sól’s rite of passage into the murky waters of adulthood as she experiences, for the very first time, the wild nature that exists in all of us.

The film’s director, Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir, will be in attendance and available after the film to field questions from the audience. She studied film and literature at La Sorbonne in Paris, Columbia University in New York, and the University of Iceland. Originally released in 2017, The Swan marked Hjörleifsdóttir’s feature film debut.

Director’s Statement: “It’s a story about human beings lost, and found, in nature …as the story takes place in the summer in Iceland, the Nordic 24-hour sun is another crucial factor in the film’s psychology”