{"id":92761,"date":"2026-02-19T11:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/?page_id=92761"},"modified":"2026-03-14T09:37:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T08:37:02","slug":"position-hlynur-palmason","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.diagonale.at\/en\/position-hlynur-palmason\/","title":{"rendered":"| Position | Hlynur P\u00e1lmason |"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Diagonale 2026 is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective to Icelandic filmmaker Hlynur P\u00e1lmason, presenting his complete work in Austria for the first time. In addition, he will receive a carte blanche<\/em> and has chosen Cr\u00eda cuervos<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Carlos Saura\u2014 a seminal work of Spanish auteur cinema.<\/p>\n

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| Masterclass with Hlynur P\u00e1lmason |
\n<\/strong>Sa March 21, 2.30 p.m.
\nSchubertkino 1<\/p>\n

Free tickets will be issued at the Schubertkino one hour before the start of the masterclass<\/p>\n

\n
The Films:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

A Painter<\/strong><\/a>
\nDK 2013, 30 min,<\/p>\n

A White, White Day<\/strong><\/a>
\nIS\/DK\/SE 2019, 109 min<\/p>\n

Godland<\/strong><\/a>
\nDK\/IS\/FR\/SE 2022, 143 min<\/p>\n

Joan of Arc<\/strong><\/a>
\nIS\/DK\/FR 2025, 61 min<\/p>\n

The Love That Remains<\/strong><\/a>
\nIS\/DK\/SE\/FR 2025, 110 min<\/p>\n

Nest<\/strong><\/a>
\nDK\/IS 2022, 22 min<\/p>\n

Seven Boats<\/strong><\/a>
\nDK\/IS 2014, 10 min<\/p>\n

Winter Brothers<\/strong><\/a>
\nDK\/IS 2017, 93 min<\/p>\n

xxx<\/pre>\n
A PROFOUND SENSE OF PLACE<\/span><\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/strong>By Sarah Lutton<\/p>\n
\"Hlynur
Hlynur P\u00e1lmason \u00a9 Hildur Y\u0301r O\u0301marsdo\u0301ttir<\/p><\/div>\n
Celebrated Icelandic filmmaker and visual artist Hlynur P\u00e1lmason is a creative polymath. His visual and aural worlds are curated with an artist\u2019s eye and ear. From his graduation short, A Painter<\/strong><\/em> (En maler, 2013), to his most recent medium length film, Joan of Arc<\/strong><\/em> (J\u00f3hanna af \u00d6rk, 2025), his work exhibits a harmony of vivid imagination and a deep engagement with the texture of the natural world. Underscored by a profound sense of place, P\u00e1lmason\u2019s work is at once visually rich and yet also characterised by creative exactness and a sense of economy. His artistic mentality is curious and observational, playful and humane, at times maximalist and yet also spare, unhurried and never overwhelming, always leaving space for viewer contemplation; a particular mentality towards filmmaking, which critic and New York Film Festival programmer Justin Chang elegantly describes as \u201cobservational spareness\u201d. (1)<\/p>\n
P\u00e1lmason\u2019s film and video work has featured in official selection and garnered numerous awards at major international festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Locarno and San Sebasti\u00e1n. He studied directing at the Den Danske Filmskole (DFS)\/National Film School of Denmark, graduating in 2013, having formed many important creative connections including that with his longtime editor, Julius Krebs Damsbo. P\u00e1lmason lived in Denmark for several years, working on collaborative Danish-Icelandic projects before returning to Iceland.<\/p>\n
\"Still
Still from Winter Brothers<\/em> \u00a9 Hlynur P\u00e1lmason<\/p><\/div>\n
Shot in mesmerizing black and white and located at sea somewhere off the dark, snow-capped Icelandic coast, the synopsis for P\u00e1lmason\u2019s early career short film, Seven Boats<\/strong> <\/em>(Sj\u00f6 b\u00e1tar, 2014), reads \u201cWe are out in the open sea, a man is fighting for his life. He is surrounded by seven boats.\u201d (2) This reflective film offers a meditation on mankind\u2019s struggle with connection and empathy, a tension similarly at the heart of his debut feature, Winter Brothers<\/strong><\/em> (Vinterbr\u00f8dre, 2017), a savagely beautiful exploration of the routines, habits, and rituals of two limestone quarry-worker brothers, in which for brother Emil (Elliott Crosset Hove), human connection and intimacy, however much desired, are painfully absent. Mainly shot on 16mm in Faxe, a small town on the Danish island of Sj\u00e6lland, Winter Brothers<\/em> features spare, open storytelling, coupled with episodes of disorientating sound and abstract visuals, creating a strikingly visceral impression of constricted lives lived in punishing surroundings, where tension and violence simmer close to the surface. P\u00e1lmason has opined that watching film can be like listening to music, offering individual emotional experiences rather than one prescribed \u2018meaning\u2019. (3) And, the experience of entering the hermetic world of Winter Brothers<\/em> is a deeply sensual one -in partnership with editor Julius Krebs Damsbo, P\u00e1lmason fashions sound, image and mood into a symphonic experience. There is imagination and there is hope, and a personal odyssey may be inferred, but P\u00e1lmason\u2019s storytelling is expansive rather than prescriptive, inviting viewers to experience, engage and draw their own conclusions.<\/p>\n
\"Still
Still from A White, White Day<\/em> \u00a9 Hlynur P\u00e1lmason<\/p><\/div>\n
P\u00e1lmason\u2019s second feature, A White, White Day<\/strong><\/em> (Hv\u00edtur, hv\u00edtur dagur, 2019), shot on wide Super 35 format, opens with a static camera capturing time passing and seasons changing in a remote Icelandic town. A man constructs a house on a lonely plot, punctuated by sporadic visits from family members, often fleetingly observed by local Icelandic horses. The housebuilder is Ingimundur (Ingvar Sigurdsson), a recent widower and the local town\u2019s police chief. He is debilitated by grief, and increasingly alienated from others, apart from his granddaughter (played by P\u00e1lmason\u2019s daughter \u00cdda Mekk\u00edn Hlynsd\u00f3ttir), with whom he has\u00a0a\u00a0warm and devoted relationship. An accidental discovery about his wife sparks an obsessive pursuit for truth and some kind of understanding. There are elements of the thriller in the modus operandi of Ingimundur\u2019s investigations, but there is also something deeply otherworldly in both his environment and his revelations. A white, white day is explained to be \u201cwhen the separation between the land and the sky is indistinguishable and the dead speak to the living.\u201d Hypnotic images highlight the beauty and strangeness of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking landscape, while Sigurdsson\u2019s towering performance reveals the interior devastation of\u00a0a\u00a0man consumed by loss yet opened to the power of transformation.<\/p>\n
\"Still
Still from Godland<\/em> \u00a9 Hlynur P\u00e1lmason<\/p><\/div>\n
2022 saw the premieres of P\u00e1lmason\u2019s short film\/video installation, Nest<\/strong><\/em> (Hrei\u00f0ur) at the Berlin Film Festival, and later, his third feature, Godland<\/strong><\/em> (Vanskabte Land \/ Vola\u00f0a Land), at Cannes. The stark beauty and harshness of nature, its movement and sound are, again, key elements of both pieces. Nest, set in contemporary Iceland, is an observational story spanning several seasons of siblings\u2019 (played by P\u00e1lmason\u2019s children) building of a tree house, their toils and joyfulness in tempo with the rhythms of weather and time. The historical drama Godland<\/em>, set in the late 19th<\/sup> Century, is, conversely, a story of hubris in the face of God and nature. Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove), a young Danish priest, travels to a remote part of Iceland (a Danish dependency at the time) ostensibly to build a church and photograph its people. Far from assimilating or offering any kind of recognisable Christian love or charity in his new Icelandic home, Lucas\u2019s interactions are transactional, domineering and dangerously aggressive. Shot in old Academy format (whose 1.33:1 ratio creates a squarer image), nature and landscape are presented through deeply textured images and soundscapes, functioning as characters and shaping the story as much as providing an environment for its setting. They are formidable antagonists to Lucas\u2019s blind imperialism and his wanton disregard for his natural and human companions. Godland also incorporates moments from P\u00e1lmason\u2019s time-lapse piece, Lament for a Horse<\/em> (Harmlj\u00f3\u00f0 um hest)<\/em>, documenting the decay of an Icelandic horse, a creature which has been fundamental to the shaping of modern Iceland. It is a specific homage to nature and place, and a beautifully poignant reminder that all shall return to dust.<\/p>\n
\"Still<\/p>\n
Still from Lament for a Horse<\/em> \u00a9 Hlynur P\u00e1lmason<\/p>\n
\"Still
Still from The Love That Remains<\/em> \u00a9 Hlynur P\u00e1lmason<\/p><\/div>\n
Again, time has an almost physical presence in The Love That Remains<\/strong><\/em> (\u00c1stin sem eftir er, 2025), which documents a year in the life of a family in Iceland as the parents negotiate separation. Witty, playful and surprising, the rhythms of the seasons dictate and underscore the progression of lives which are the \u2018same but different\u2019. Very relatable family sequences often featuring the scene-stealing (and Cannes Palm Dog-winning) family dog, Panda, are punctuated with mysterious, light-hearted episodes. Time moves on, separation is sad, but change brings new perspectives. P\u00e1lmason\u2019s second film of 2025, the linked timelapse piece, Joan of Arc<\/strong><\/em>, is a story again shaped by the seasons, the landscape and natural elements. (4) An armoured mannequin is constructed by children for archery target practice on a wild Icelandic coastal knoll. Over time the knight-like figure is buffeted by their arrows and the extreme weather. The mannequin deteriorates, but rather than disappearing through neglect, a surprise turn mysteriously suggests that there could be new life beyond what has been endured. A perfect encapsulation of the heart of P\u00e1lmason\u2019s work; a deep engagement with the texture of the natural world and the progression of time.<\/p>\n
\"Still
Still from Joan of Arc<\/em> \u00a9 Hlynur P\u00e1lmason<\/p><\/div>\n
Footnotes \/ References:
\n<\/em>(1) Justin Chang, The Love That Remains<\/em> post-screening discussion with Hlynur P\u00e1lmason, 63rd New York Film Festival, 10 October 2025.
\n(2) Seven Boats<\/em>, synopsis, Hlynur P\u00e1lmason, https:\/\/www.hpalmason.com\/text<\/a>
\n(3) Interview with Hlynur P\u00e1lmason. Sarah Bradbury, The Upcoming, 22 October 2025 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tlIDSuZJ0Cc<\/a>
\n(4) In The Love That Remains<\/em> the children (played by P\u00e1lmason\u2019s children) use a knight-like mannequin outside for target practice. The children in Joan of Arc<\/em> are again played by P\u00e1lmason\u2019s children. Although not strictly \u2018concurrent\u2019 projects, filming on The Love That Remains<\/em> began in 2017 and Joan of Arc<\/em> was shot over three years.<\/p>\n
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About the author:<\/em>
\nSarah Lutton specialises in Nordic film and is a longtime contributor to the BFI London Film Festival programme, where she\u00a0is currently a Selection Committee Member. She has written on, curated seasons and events, and hosted career interviews with Nordic filmmakers including Liv Ullmann, Thomas Vinterberg and Lukas Moodysson. She also works with BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) on their new talent mentorship programme, and with the British Council’s Film Team supporting UK films and filmmakers internationally.<\/p>\n
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Diagonale would like to thank the project sponsor Gaulhofer \u2013 Ein Fenster lang. Ein Leben lang.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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