Icelandic football documentary wins Glasgow Film Festival award
Kari Vignarsson and Smari Gunn show their delight at winning the audience award
- Published
A documentary about an Icelandic village's football team has taken the top honour at the Glasgow Film Festival (GFF).
The Home Game won the event's Audience Award with the highest score in the prize's 10-year history.
It follows Reynir FC as they attempt to play their first ever home game on a professional pitch, lovingly created amongst the glaciers of the small fishing village of Hellissandur.
The festival concluded its 20th edition on Sunday with the premiere of Janey, a documentary about Scottish comedian Janey Godley and her diagnosis with cancer.
The Home Game’s directors Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson said they were "incredibly proud" to have won the honour, which is voted on by the public throughout the event.
They said: "Being a small film from Iceland, it means so much for us to get this recognition and the opportunity to share the story of these loveable Icelandic villagers, as far and wide as possible.
"Everyone at GFF has been so welcoming to us and the audience reactions really blew us away."
The documentary is focused around Reynir FC's attempts to play a home tie in the Icelandic Cup, with the team made up of a rag-tag group of locals.
The film is focused on a rag-tag group of footballers
Event organisers said the documentary had received standing ovations on both occasions it was shown.
Films also shortlisted for the Audience Award included Viggo Mortensen’s Western The Dead Don’t Hurt; Aylin Tezel’s Isle of Skye-shot romance Falling Into Place; and The Teacher, a drama from British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi.
Mr Gunn and Reynir FC captain Kari Vignarsson were in Glasgow to collect the award, which was presented by Shallow Grave actress Kerry Fox.
The festival ran for 12 days and featured films from 44 different countries.