Kjötborg (e. The Cornershop)
DigiBeta, 00:45:00, 16:9 short cinema documentary film, 2008.Screened internationally at various film festival and cultural institutions.
Co-directed with Helga Rakel Rafnsdottir.
Original score by Sindri Mar Sigfusson.
“To go straight to the point I think they are turning a page in Icelandic filmmaking.
This is a breakthrough… This is very well done.”
An unusual love story about two brothers and a shop. Gunnar and Kristján run a small grocery in the old part of Reykjavík. How many phrases can one possibly make on the topic of a bag of potatoes or chewing gum? It is a shop where the daily customer relies on so much more than just groceries. What lies beyond the values of market capitalism?
This is a small story told with humor, fun, sensitivity, chaos and beauty that subtly comments on grand scale global issues. The film was shot in 2006 and premiered in June 2008. This was a time when the values of greed and profits were at an exhilarating speed becoming the positive norms that everything was measured by, especially in Iceland. After the economic collapse it became obvious to many how the film is a very appropriate comment to the state of mind in Iceland in the first decade of the 21st century and the film became a huge success. After the premiere, Cornershop won all the prizes that could be won in filmmaking in Iceland and was selected for many international film festivals including the festivals in Gothenburg, Sweden and Thessaloniki, Greece.