Director's Comment

By Margret Run 

 THE ICELANDER – that’s Sölvi Helgason, naïve painter and vagabond, poet, philosopher and historian, who lived in the 19th century. He was ridiculed and ostracized by the masses, but loved and admired by the few who knew him; often outsiders like Sölvi himself. Nowadays Sölvi Helgason is a legend in his home country. Every child knows the stories about him and his naivist paintings have been compared to the paintings of Henri Rousseau.

Some of his early writing has been published – including his history of France, but much of his writing is still awaiting discovery. Written in miniscule type – to this day it has been found almost impossible to read. Sölvi, a self appointed redeemer of his people, was a brilliant show-off and expert in the art of overstatement – a talent that helped him survive poverty and deprivation.

The Icelander is a story we all can relate to. At it’s core it is a story about the struggle of a creative mind with special abilities against the narrow mindedness of his contemporaries and a cruel and oppressive society. The story emphasizes our basic need not to let others tell us what to do and never to let anyone take away our dreams.