Among the filmmakers who are always happy to return to KVIFF is Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason. After previously presenting A White, White Day and Godland, he returned this year with his new film The Love That Remains, which premiered earlier in Cannes.
“The first shot of the film dates back to 2017. We shot about thirty percent over the course of seven years, and then completed the main part last summer,” said the director, who is known for giving his projects time to grow and often develops several films in parallel. “I want things to grow naturally,” he explained. The early footage from 2017 captures the demolition of an old studio. “I knew I would use it as the opening of a film about the breakup of a relationship, which would also explore how we spend time with our children,” said the director.
That’s something the director does even during production, as he frequently casts his own children in his films. All three of them appear in The Love That Remains. “For them, it’s just play. They don’t have serious acting ambitions – though the boys do it partly for the money. They know the crew, they feel safe on set, and they don’t think too much about the film or its themes. My older daughter rehearsed their scenes with them. What interests me most is their raw energy and how they respond to what I’ve written” described the director.
Pálmason brought his children to Karlovy Vary three years ago, and this year he was joined by Julius Krebs Damsbo, his long-time editor. “Our collaboration is basically one long conversation – it can go on for half a year,” Damsbo said during the post-screening discussion.
