02/03/2006

Ārni Ōlafur Āsgeirsson’s directorial debut, Thicker Than Water (Blo Blond) – a European co-production between Iceland (Pegasus Film), Denmark (Zentropa Entertainment) and Germany (Thalamus Film) – had a very strong opening last weekend. Released by Samfilm on four screens, the family drama took the number two position in the domestic charts, with 1,876 admissions, just under UK family film Nanny McPhee.

The 34 year-old Āsgeirsson, a graduate from the Media Programme’s EAVE in 1993, first came into the limelight with his short film P.S., selected for the Cannes Cinefondation in 2002. In 2004, his other short film, the Danish-produced Anna’s Day, won the Press Prize at Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Thicker Than Water, his first feature film, was produced by Snorri Thorisson, head of Pegasus Pictures, one of the Iceland’s most dynamic production companies, which is also active in music videos, commercials and provides production services for foreign companies.

Thorisson told Cineuropa that putting together the €1.2m budget with other European partners took quite some time, but that time was used positively to polish the original screenplay, co-written by the director and Jon Atli Jonsson.

Set in Rekjavik, the film is about Petur (Hilmar Jónsson, seen recently in Eleven Men Out), a successful, happily married optometrist who is expecting a second child with his wife (Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir, Shooting Star 2002). However, their “perfect life” is thrown into turmoil when Peter discovers he isn’t the biological father of his ten year-old son.

For Thorisson, the film’s strengths lie in the direction and the talented Icelandic filmmaker’s powerful sense of storytelling. Thicker Than Water has been pre-sold by Pegasus to Swedish broadcaster SVT and for theatrical distribution in Finland. Thorisson has submitted the film for a potential selection at the next Cannes Film Festival.