Stockfish Has Plans For You: Irish Focus, Daring Documentaries, And Seven-Hour Béla Tarr Screening

The 2026 Stockfish Film & Industry festival is just around the corner, running from March 19 to 29. Reykjavík isn’t exactly a global film festival capital — but for over a decade, Stockfish has been steadily building a platform for filmmakers and cinephiles alike. This year, the festival is bringing 27 international titles to town, geographically spanning from Colombia to China. We spoke with Managing Director Dögg Mósesdóttir to find out what’s on, and what’s worth your time.

Managing Director Dögg Mósesdóttir by Joana Fontinha

Films from a greener cousin

Stockfish started 12 years ago as an industry festival, organised by film professionals looking to grow the local scene and build connections. That mission remains the same today, with industry events happening around town while films screen at Bíó Paradís. This year, the festival kicks off with an Irish focus and a theme of “legacies and legends.”

“We want to do our part in representing international documentaries.”

“We want to focus on our cultural heritage and storytelling, both in Iceland and Ireland,” Dögg explains. “We want to make the relationship between Ireland and Iceland stronger because we haven’t been co-producing a lot with Ireland, and we’re very similar in many ways. We’re basically cousins genetically.”

Among the festival’s Irish lineup are the coming-of-age drama Ready or Not, about the struggles of being a teenage girl in ’90s Ireland; the Oscar-nominated animated fantasy Wolfwalkers by the acclaimed Cartoon Saloon studio; and the opening film, the 2025 drama Christy, which follows a 17-year-old as he navigates life after being thrown out of a foster home and forced to live in with his estranged older half-brother.

Speaking of “legacies and legends,” Stockfish is hosting a sing-along screening of The Commitments, Alan Parker’s 1991 musical comedy-drama chronicling the rise and fall of a working-class Dublin soul band — famously voted the best Irish film ever made. Andrew Strong, who played the band’s lead singer at just 16 and with no prior acting experience, is coming to Reykjavík. He never returned to film after The Commitments’ debut, devoting his career entirely to music.

The Commitments

Stepping into the doc gap

The Stockfish programme continues with a strong selection of documentaries, curated by filmmaker Yrsa Roca Fannberg. “There’s no longer the international documentary film festival Ice Docs [formerly held in Akranes until 2024], so we want to do our part in representing international documentaries,” Dögg explains. She adds that this year’s selection leans toward artistic documentaries rather than traditional journalistic documentaries.

To the West, in Zapata

One highlight is To the West, in Zapata by David Bim, a black-and-white film about a crocodile hunter in a pandemic-stricken Cuba. As Dögg puts it, “it’s just a very impressive cinematic experience.” Another standout — perfect for these podcast-bro, manosphere, toxic-masculinity times — Confessions of a Swedish Man, “about a feminist guy who goes to a men’s camp.” Director Hampus Linder, the “Swedish Man” in question, will be in town for a post-screening talk.

Simultaneously, Stockfish doesn’t ignore global political crises, reminding viewers about the devastations happening beyond Iceland’s borders with must-watch films from Ukraine (Songs of Slow Burning Earth) and Palestine (The Voice of Hind Rajab).

Masters on screen

No doubt, one of Stockfish’s most-anticipated premieres is the closing film by Hlynur Pálmason, a director known for his devotion to the analogue medium and perfectly composed frames. His 62-minute, non-narrative Joan of Arc was shot as a companion piece to his remarkable break-up drama The Love That Remains. The film moves through the same familiar landscapes around Hlynur’s home in East Iceland, observing his three kids at play as they shoot arrows at a makeshift knight-like target. For the Icelandic premiere, Hlynur’s taking his family for a road trip to Reykjavík and will give a talk after the screening.

The Icelandic programme (aside from the short film competition and a naked Ingvar E. in what The Guardian calls the “sexual odyssey” Sebastian co-produced by the U.K., Finland, and Belgium) ends here. “Unfortunately, there have just been very few films made because of cut-downs in the film industry,” Dögg explains.

With new big releases to celebrate, Stockfish turns to the masters of the past, honouring director of photography Ari Kristinsson, most known for his work on Iceland’s only Oscar-nominated feature to date, the 1991 Children of Nature, directed by the godfather of Icelandic cinema, ​​Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. Even years after its release, this nostalgic, lyrical film remains a matter of national pride. The film will screen, followed by a Q&A with Ari.

This year, Stockfish also pays tribute to Béla Tarr, the incomparable Hungarian auteur who passed away in January, with a screening of his 1994 ​​Sátántangó, a seven-and-a-half-hour epic that follows the inhabitants of a small Hungarian village after the fall of Communism. A seminal “slow cinema” work, this screening is certainly for true connoisseurs, but Dögg reassures the audience that there’ll be some food on offer, “so people can last the whole seven and a half hours.”

​​Sátántangó

The ones to watch

There’s plenty more on offer during Stockfish’s 10 days in town, but there’s one big change: after two years of free or pay-what-you-can entry, the festival simply can’t afford it anymore. Dögg explains that, in addition to the obvious budget cuts, the system didn’t really work, and people would often book tickets and then not show up. “I don’t think we have a culture for it here in Iceland because it didn’t work so well. Also, the commitment to paying makes people commit to going,” she says.

“There’s so much talent out there and so few films being made.”

Still, with punch cards for four screenings and a range of free events, Stockfish is doing its best to remain accessible, whether or not you can afford a full festival pass. One of those free, must-visit events is Shortfish, the festival’s short film competition, which for years has been one of the only platforms for young filmmakers to showcase their work across four categories: Fiction, Documentary, Experimental, and Artistic Music Video.

“The films are very competitive this year. We even had to increase the number of selected films, especially in the Fiction category, because there were so many good films — and we had to reject so many good ones,” says Dögg, adding that she hopes short films will gain a bigger platform on the festival circuit. “There’s a lot of strong female directors coming up, and I hope they will get the space to make their films in the near future. There’s so much talent out there and so few films being made.”

Stockfish runs from March 19-29 at Bíó Paradís. Punch cards (4 screenings) are available for 6.500 ISK and festival passes for 19.990 ISK. See the full festival programme here: stockfishfestival.is

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