Ísold Uggadóttir is an Icelandic filmmaker, who divides her time between New York City and Reykjavik, Iceland. She is a two-time winner of the Icelandic Academy Awards for Best Short Film, (2010 and 2011) in addition to receiving four nominations (2006 – 2012).

Her short films, FAMILY REUNION, NJÁLSGATA, CLEAN and REVOLUTION REYKJAVIK have been invited to over 120 international film festivals, including Sundance, Telluride, BFI London and New Directors/New Films hosted by The Film Society of Lincoln Center & MoMA in New York.

Ísold has received nearly thirty international awards, most recently in Greece where her film REVOLUTION REYKJAVIK received an honorary distinction of the jury at the International Drama Film Festival 2012. The film, which was inspired by events that occurred in her home country in the fall of 2008, when the Icelandic economy suffered a collapse of unprecedented proportions, also received that Golden Spike Award for Best Short Film at Valladolid International in Spain. REVOLUTION REYKJAVIK was long-listed for the Academy Awards, following its reception of the Jury Prize at Athens International in Ohio and was named “one of the outstanding short films of 2012” by Indiewire blogger, Michael Block.

Indiewire also praised Ísold’s short film CLEAN (2010), calling it “an unflinching drama”, while jury member Romain Gavras (Northern Wave Int’l FF) described it as “an energetic and consistent piece of film, with a tour de force performance.”

Ísold holds an M.F.A hons in writing and directing from Columbia University in New York, where she was honored with the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Award for Best Female Director upon graduation in 2011, for her film REVOLUTION REYKJAVIK. Her studies were supported with scholarships from New York Women in Film and Television, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The American-Scandinavian Foundation. Her work has also been funded by NYSCA, the Icelandic Film Centre, The City of Reykjavik and Frameline in San Francisco. She is an alumna the Berlinale Talent Campus and IFP’s Emerging Narrative in New York.

Currently, Ísold is developing her first feature film, AND BREATHE NORMALLY. The film was selected for Nordic Talents hosted by the Nordic Film and Television Fund, as well as the Cine Qua Non 2012 screenwriting residency in Mexico. Additionally, it received the honor of being chosen for Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab in Los Angeles in 2012. Most recently, AND BREATHE NORMALLY was invited to the New Nordic Films Co-production Market 2013 hosted by the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund. The film has since been granted development support from the Icelandic Film Centre.

Screen International named Ísold “one of the rising stars of Icelandic film.”

Winning Project: Revolution Reykjavik 

As Iceland sinks into economic meltdown, 58-year-old Gudfinna tries, against all odds, not to do the same.

www.no9productions.com