There are few things more enjoyable when watching a documentary than being able to fully root for an underdog. From spelling bees to singing contests, debate societies and sporting contests, they have proved themselves cinematic winners with a fine pedigree - and The Home Game’s triumph in the Glasgow Film Festival audience award again proves its a winning formula. Although technically from the sporting end of the genre, even non-football fans are likely to find themselves won over almost immediately by this tale of one team’s determination against the odds.
The story starts long before directors Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson entered the picture, back in 1994. It was then that Viðar Gylfason, a resident of the Icelandic village of Hellissandur (population: 369), settled on the pipe dream of building a football pitch and having his club Reynir Fc play a home game on it in the country’s Fa Cup.
The story starts long before directors Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson entered the picture, back in 1994. It was then that Viðar Gylfason, a resident of the Icelandic village of Hellissandur (population: 369), settled on the pipe dream of building a football pitch and having his club Reynir Fc play a home game on it in the country’s Fa Cup.
- 3/22/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Home game team learn that they've won the Audience Award Photo: Eoin Carey
The Glasgow Film Festival enjoyed a highly successful 20th anniversary edition, with 34,817 tickets sold and opening film Love Lies Bleeding selling out in a record-breaking six minutes, it has been revealed. With a total of 241 screenings, including free retrospectives in the mornings, it also saw 3,000 admissions to its industry focus events.
Lauren Lavera and Jonathan Dylan King, stars of The Well Photo: Erika Stevenson
The 2024 Audience Award was won - by a hefty margin - by Icelandic underdog football documentary The Home Game, while Viggo Mortensen received the festival's inaugural Cinema City Honorary Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema. he was also present to support his new film The Dead Don't Hurt. "It was the best place I’ve seen my movie and the best place I’ve heard it. I’ve learned...
The Glasgow Film Festival enjoyed a highly successful 20th anniversary edition, with 34,817 tickets sold and opening film Love Lies Bleeding selling out in a record-breaking six minutes, it has been revealed. With a total of 241 screenings, including free retrospectives in the mornings, it also saw 3,000 admissions to its industry focus events.
Lauren Lavera and Jonathan Dylan King, stars of The Well Photo: Erika Stevenson
The 2024 Audience Award was won - by a hefty margin - by Icelandic underdog football documentary The Home Game, while Viggo Mortensen received the festival's inaugural Cinema City Honorary Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cinema. he was also present to support his new film The Dead Don't Hurt. "It was the best place I’ve seen my movie and the best place I’ve heard it. I’ve learned...
- 3/21/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Glasgow Film Festival 2024 (GFF24) saw an increase in cinema admissions and industry attendance, with director Allison Gardner describing the 20th edition as “a perfect reflection of everything Glasgow Film Festival stands for: cinema for all”.
GFF24 ran from February 26 to March 9, with cinema admissions increasing to 34,817, a 4% rise from GFF23. Industry attendance was up by 56%, with 650 delegates visiting from across the globe, and over 3,000 admissions to its industry focus events.
2020 remains Gff’s record-breaking year for audience levels, with 43,147 cinema admissions.
Icelandic football film The Home Game received the audience award, the festival’s only award, while Danish actor and...
GFF24 ran from February 26 to March 9, with cinema admissions increasing to 34,817, a 4% rise from GFF23. Industry attendance was up by 56%, with 650 delegates visiting from across the globe, and over 3,000 admissions to its industry focus events.
2020 remains Gff’s record-breaking year for audience levels, with 43,147 cinema admissions.
Icelandic football film The Home Game received the audience award, the festival’s only award, while Danish actor and...
- 3/21/2024
- ScreenDaily
When Icelandic directors Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson set out to make The Home Game, they couldn’t have imagined the response this small, local Icelandic documentary would gather on the festival circuit. The film, which follows a group of spirited underdogs as they fight for local soccer glory, is coming off the back of a rapturous reception at the Glasgow Film Festival, where it won the fest’s prestigious Audience Award. It previously screened at the Tromso International Film Festival, Doc NYC and Nordisk Panorama.
The Home Game follows the story of an impulsive Icelander, Kari Vidarsson, who wants to fulfil his father Vidar’s failed dream to get their small fishing village, Hellissandur (population 369), a home game on the unused football pitch he built. While Vidar managed to build a team in 1994, the side ultimately drew an away game and fell to a 10-0 defeat. Fast-forward to 2020 and...
The Home Game follows the story of an impulsive Icelander, Kari Vidarsson, who wants to fulfil his father Vidar’s failed dream to get their small fishing village, Hellissandur (population 369), a home game on the unused football pitch he built. While Vidar managed to build a team in 1994, the side ultimately drew an away game and fell to a 10-0 defeat. Fast-forward to 2020 and...
- 3/12/2024
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Icelandic football filmThe Home Game won the Glasgow Film Festival audience award which was presented as the 20th edition drew to a close in the Scottish city last night (March 10).
Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson’s documentary about plucky underdogs Reynir Fc’s bid for cup glory scored the highest audience score in the award’s 10-year history.
Based in the Icelandic village of Hellissandur, with a population of 369, Reynir Fc was re-formed in 2020 with a ragtag bunch of locals including a 15-year-old schoolboy rapper, 40-something in goal and the somewhat controversial inclusion of a former Iceland women’s team player.
Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson’s documentary about plucky underdogs Reynir Fc’s bid for cup glory scored the highest audience score in the award’s 10-year history.
Based in the Icelandic village of Hellissandur, with a population of 369, Reynir Fc was re-formed in 2020 with a ragtag bunch of locals including a 15-year-old schoolboy rapper, 40-something in goal and the somewhat controversial inclusion of a former Iceland women’s team player.
- 3/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Home Game. Smari Gunn: 'We just started filming without kind of knowing what we were going to do with it. We had no money or anything. We just got filming' Photo: MetFilm Crowd-pleasing documentary The Home Game tells the uplifting story of how a football club in Iceland from Hellisandur, in Iceland, which has a population of less than 400, became determined to play a match on local turf in the country’s Fa Cup. The idea was the brainchild of Viðar Gylfason but despite getting the pitch up and running his dream was scuppered by an away draw which saw his team Reynir Fc lose spectacularly 10-0.
As 2020 rolls around, his son Kári Viðars becomes determined to realise his dad’s dream. The pitch is impressive but, even more so, the team spirit of a club which has an inclusive policy of accepting players no matter what their age,...
As 2020 rolls around, his son Kári Viðars becomes determined to realise his dad’s dream. The pitch is impressive but, even more so, the team spirit of a club which has an inclusive policy of accepting players no matter what their age,...
- 3/5/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson 29157
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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