Archive of films Rams / Hrútar

Iceland / Denmark
2015, 93 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2015

They haven’t spoken for 40 years but when the law compels them to slaughter a herd of beloved sheep they simply have to face up to one another. Grímur Hákonarson’s second movie Rams, a comedy about two brothers living in the wilds of Iceland, was victorious at this year’s Cannes festival in the progressive Un Certain Regard section.

Synopsis

Kiddi drinks and likes his shooting. Gummi doesn’t drink and doesn’t shoot. Both have wild hair and great beards. Gummi and Kiddi are single brothers who inhabit an inhospitable Icelandic valley, their houses are a stone’s throw apart and they both tend sheep. And they are also proud to compete in the contest to find the best ram. Yet they haven’t spoken to one another for the best part of their lives. This year Kiddi wins the ram contest by a whisker and disgruntled Gummi then decides to inspect the prize ram in its enclosure. He becomes suspicious that it might be infected with a lethal disease – if that is the case, it would have to be destroyed, along with all the other herds in the valley. In spite of this, Gummi still sends the vet to see Kiddi. “Both my parents were raised in the countryside and I was sent there to live and work most summers,” says Grímur Hákonarson who, in Rams, deals a typically Icelandic hand – grumpy beardies, hostile weather and sparing shots. The tragicomic plight of the brothers, who under pressure of circumstances have to rethink their relationship, nevertheless has global ramifications as well.

Šimon Šafránek

About the director

Grímur Hákonarson (b. 1977, Iceland) took a one-year course at Prague’s FAMU in 2004, where he shot the short comedy Slávek the Shit (2005) about a public convenience attendant. It was entered on the programme at Cannes in the Cinéfondation section for college film screenings and won twelve festival awards around the world. His next short film Wrestling (Bræðrabylta, 2007) was premiered in Locarno and also screened at Karlovy Vary. Hákonarson made his feature film debut with the comedy Summerland (Sumarlandið, 2010). His latest offering Rams came top in this year’s Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Contacts

New Europe Film Sales
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Poland
Tel: +48 609 804 296, +48 600 173 205
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.neweuropefilmsales.com

Aerofilms
Milady Horákové 383/79, 170 00, Praha 7
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 947 566
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.aerofilms.cz

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About the film

Color, DCP

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Grímur Hákonarson
Screenplay:	Grímur Hákonarson
Dir. of Photography:	Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
Music:	Atli Örvarsson
Editor:	Kristján Loðmfjörð
Art Director:	Bjarni þór Sigurbjörnsson
Producer:	Grímar Jónsson
Production:	Netop Films
Coproduction:	Profile Pictures
Cast:	Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Theodór Júlíusson
Sales:	New Europe Film Sales
Distributor:	Aerofilms