Lucas is a homeless boy living in a cardboard box under the Brooklyn Bridge. His existence has come to a dead end but his pathetic attempt to commit suicide fails. At the hospital, Lucas is introduced to Jacques, a grumpy bar owner whose unhealthy lifestyle has brought him five heart attacks. Since he has not many years to live and no family, Jacques takes Lucas under his wing with the intention of having him continue his legacy. Everything is going according to plan, but when the drunken stewardess, April, enters the bar, things start to go off track.

Jury motivation: Dagur Kári paints his characters in the film The Good Heart with broad strokes in this tragic comedy where two men end up changing each other for the better. Dagur Kári applies the deadpan absurdist, ironic comedy but laces it with a shameless sentimentality, which is pure fairytale. Even though the setting is in New York and the dialogue is in English, the feel and the peculiar humour of the film comes directly from the Icelandic Sagas. 

National jury: Sif Gunnarsdóttir & Kristin Jóhannesdóttir.