Icelandic-Swedish Viking film Embla (2007), directed by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson, will have its US debut at a student conference hosted by the German and Scandinavian studies division at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) on February 15.
The director will attend the conference himself and discuss his films.
Embla is the director’s cut of Gunnlaugsson’s 1991 The White Viking, the last film of his “Raven Triology,” starring young Swedish actress Marie Bonnevie as Embla. The film features the struggle between followers of the Norse Viking religion and Christianity.
According to an UMass press release, Embla had its premiere at the 2007 Reykjavík Film Festival and the film’s US debut is a rare chance for an American audience to see Gunnlaugsson’s latest work and learn about his career. The director has been praised for combining mythical themes with historical accuracy in his movies.
The film screening is the opening event of the third biennial graduate student conference, “MYTH: A Graduate Conference in German and Scandinavian Studies,” which closes on February 17.
