Spotlight Talk: Sjón

During this Spotlight Talk, film journalist Hugo Emmerzael interviews the internationally renowned Icelandic writer, screenwriter and poet Sjón about the various films and works he has made over the years. Sjón is the Spotlight guest of this edition of the Northern Film Festival, and will receive the Award for Special Contribution to Northern Cinema during the Spotlight Talk.

Within the Spotlight program line, the festival presents a number of his works. Sjón is the co-writer of the epic The Northman (2022) and the in 2027 to-be-released Werewulf, both of which he wrote with director Robert Eggers. Together with director Valdimar Jóhannsson he wrote Lamb (2021), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Oscar for Best International Film. Sjón has collaborated with Icelandic musician Björk on several occasions and was nominated for an Academy Award for his lyrics for Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (1996), in which Björk plays the leading role. In addition to these titles, the Spotlight program line will also screen the Icelandic Mannvirki (2023), an intriguing crossover of documentary, fiction and experimental cinema, with poetry by Sjón.

The Spotlight Talk will be followed by an exclusive screening of the short film Grýlu Sker: An Icelandic Ghost Story (Kevin McTurk, 2026), which Sjón produced and co-wrote the story of. In this intimate horror story, an Icelandic folk legend is brought to life by actors, stunning Bunraku puppetry, animation, practical effects, and rotoscoping.

NOTE: for this Spotlight Talk [you can already buy your tickets] in the presale!