Scottish director Graeme Maley is pleased to announce that his debut directorial films, Pale Star and A Reykavik Porno will have their world premieres at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016. Pale Star has been selected to compete for the prestigious Michael Powell award.
Pale Star tells the story of possessiveness, love and how that possession peels back to expose power and control. Solveig (Þrúður Vilhjálmsdóttir) kills her husband in a fight about his abuse of their daughter Dis. Molly (Isabelle Joss) flees the abuse of her drunken husband, Kurt (Iain Robertson). Solveig offers to help Molly with her problem husband but she has no idea about the direction this “help” is going to take. Molly makes a fundamental error which ultimately leads to more deaths. Secrets are revealed and violence never far away as two couples’ lives collide. It features Icelandic stars Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson, Þrúður Vilhjálmsdóttir and award winning actor, Iain Robertson. Scottish born Robertson rose to fame in the cult gangster film Small Faces.
A Reykjavik Porno tells the story of perverted relationships set amongst three days in the wintery darkness of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik. Ingvar, (Albert Halldorsson), is a country-boy studying in the capital who lodges with an alcoholic landlady, Laufey (Ylfa Edelstein). Her love for Ingvar is obsessive and hopeless; she is trapped by her drinking and her agoraphobia. Ingvar should be happy with the joyful sex with his exuberant girlfriend, Ada, but he becomes transfixed by the deceit and dirty secrets of a new “parent-porn” website. His obsession pulls him tragically into the dark underbelly of the winter city. Filmed entirely in black and white, this Nordic noir is a gritty take on obsession, lies, deceit, dirty secrets and digital perversion.
The Film features newcomer Albert Halldorsson in the title role of Ingvar, Ylfa Edelstein and the controversial Icelandic feminist hip hop band Reykjavikadetur. Rapping about everything from politics to anal sex, Reykjavikurdaetur penned the Icelandic Slut Walk anthem. This 15 member girl-group also has a cameo in the film.
Acclaimed theatre director Graeme Maley comments: “I wanted to place these characters in an urban environment of constant cold and darkness. I wanted this environment to have an exotic atmosphere and its own specific personality that bounces these personalities across this landscape over a very short time frame.”
Pale Star screens at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on the 22nd and 23rd of June. A Reykjavik Porno screens on the 23rd and 24th of June.
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