The Reykjavík International Film Festival celebrates emerging cinema and film greats

Opening the hefty programme for RIFF, one thing is clear: independent, pioneering cinema is king here, with emerging filmmakers at the heart of proceedings.

This is particularly evident in the festival’s ‘New Visions’ selection, which sees up-and-coming directors present their first or second feature film to compete for the festival’s main accolade, the Golden Puffin.

These emerging filmmakers will be showing alongside greats of the industry, who will be present (in person or virtually) in Reykjavík. 

This year’s guests include actress Nastassja Kinski, famed for Roman Polanski’s Tess (1979) and Wim Wenders’ 1984 neo-western Paris, Texas, the latter of which will be screened at RIFF together with Paul Schrader’s Cat People (1982), and followed by a masterclass by Kinski; director Bong Joon-ho, of Parasite (2019) fame, who will join Icelandic audiences for a discussion following the screening of his earlier films Mother (2009) and The Host (2006); and Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari, co-producer of three films with Oscar-nominated, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning director Yorgos Lanthimos, who brings three films to screen in Iceland, including her 2024 drama Harvest. 

Each year, RIFF dedicates a section of its programming to a particular country. This year, Sweden comes under the spotlight, with films including Frida Kempff’s The Swedish Torpedo (2024), set just before the onset of the Second World War and centring on the first Scandinavian to swim the English Channel, as well as a selection of short films.

In addition to bringing many international films to local audiences, RIFF also aims to be a meeting place between Icelandic cinema and the world. With this in mind, its ‘Icelandic Panorama’ section is dedicated to the