30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Vala and Benni travel in their Volvo through the snowy landscapes of Iceland. The car is crammed with boxes and suitcases, including their canary's cage. The couple is moving from Reykjavik to the countryside, looking for a simpler life. The personal idea that each of them has of this future life is the cause of a misunderstanding that weighs down the atmosphere in the car: Vala and Benni discuss, quarrel, stop, then resume the journey. Perhaps they are ready to make peace, but destiny reserves them a dramatic and unexpected turn of events. Sveinsson draws with short and realistic strokes the story of a couple in crisis, of a generation suspended between a past compromised by frustration and an uncertain future. The bare Icelandic landscape, and its impassive whiteness, are the stage for a shocking event, which in a few minutes of tight editing reveals the fragility of human destinies.

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  Erlendur Sveinsson

  Erlendur Sveinsson is a director and screenwriter from Reykjavik. He earned a master's degree in directing from the Columbia University School of the Arts, participated in the International Fulbright Program and was selected for the Berlinale talent campus. His short films, Thick Skin (2017) and Tumi Before the Volcano (2018), have been screened in several international festivals.