Blackport

Blackport
Verbúðin
Iceland, 2021, 8x50’
Nominated writers: Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Mikael Torfason
Broadcasters: RÚV, ARTE France
Produced by: Vesturport
Producers: Nana Alfredsdóttir, Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Nina Dögg Filippusdóttir
Directors: Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, María Reyndal
Premiere: December 26, 2021
Sales: About Premium Content

Russia has oil. Africa has gold. Iceland has fish. Set in the 1980‘s in a small Icelandic fishing village, the story follows a married couple, Harpa and Grimur, as they build a small fishing empire along with their childhood friends. Due to the introduction of a new fishing quota system in the country, where the fishing grounds are privatised, the struggle for power results in a feud of jealousy, greed and betrayal. A collective venture, that mirrors true events as they played out and dramatically changed the political landscape in Iceland, creating the country’s first billionaires.

Gísli Örn Gardarsson's bio
Gísli Örn Gardarsson is one of the founders of Vesturport. He has acted in, directed, written and produced theatre productions all over the world winning numerous awards including the European Theatre award with Vesturport, a shooting star award at the Berlinale as an actor and best direction awards in Boston and Toronto.

Björn Hlynur Haraldsson's bio
Björn Hlynur Haraldsson is a director, writer, actor and producer. Co-founder of Vesturport, one of Europe’s most innovative film, TV and theatre groups. Björn Hlynur’s latest project is TV series Blackport. This year the upcoming eight-part series won the Grand Prize in the International competition Series Mania in Lille, France.

Mikael Torfason's bio
Mikael Torfason has written eight novels, ten plays, a Netflix original and three feature films. He wrote and directed Made in Iceland, a feature film that traveled the world and was nominated to numerous prizes. Recently Torfason wrote Valhalla Murders for Netflix.

Read our interview with the nominated writers: Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Mikael Torfason HERE.

The jury, consisting of Alma Pöysti, Gábor Krigler, Julie Andem and Mattias Bergqvist states:
"Dramatic, funny and unpredictable, without losing its original voice, the winner is a show that has strong emotional stakes and a lead character ahead of her time. She refuses to play by the rules, just like this series is not afraid to push narrative boundaries, balancing between existentialism and comedy."