NORTHERN COMFORT
Section: Narrative Spotlight
Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson
Screenwriters: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Halldór Laxness Halldórsson, Tobias Munthe
Logline: A special forces veteran, an uptight property developer, an influencer with half a million followers and an incompetent instructor are thrown together on a high-end fear of flying course. The course’s final challenge is an experience flight from London to Iceland, which ends up being a horrendous ordeal. Lost in Iceland, freezing and terrified, they must find a way of facing their fears and working together to spread their wings… and fly.
Sales Agent: Charades
Panelists: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Ella Rumpf, Sverrir Gudnason, Simon Manyonda
Premiered: March 12, 2023
Key Quote: Sigurðsson: “I heard about these courses because there was someone close to me that had this problem. I found it quite fascinating and wanted to use it as a vehicle or metaphor to make a film kind of an existential comedy about big themes, like fear and death and life and all these crazy thoughts that make us feel small and vulnerable… It’s okay to feel small and just let go. Just go for it and give up trying to control things.”
The Deadline Studio at SXSW runs March 10-13, where the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Austin, Texas.
