Reykjavík

Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaˌviːk], English /ˈreɪkjəˌvik/; RAYK-yə-veek) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It has a latitude of 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state and a popular tourist destination. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of the Faxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in the Capital Region), it is the heart of Iceland's cultural, economic and governmental activity.

Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established in AD 874. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national center of commerce, population, and governmental activities. It is among the cleanest, greenest, and safest cities in the world.

Mike Newell (director)

Michael Cormac "Mike" Newell (born 28 March 1942) is an English director and producer of motion pictures for film and television. Newell won the 1994 BAFTA Award for Best Direction for Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Early life

Newell was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, the son of amateur actors. Newell was educated at St Albans School and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He then attended a three-year training course at Granada Television, with the intention of entering the theatre.

Career

Newell directed various British TV shows from the 1960s onwards (such as Spindoe (1968), credited as Cormac Newell, and Big Breadwinner Hog). However, he eventually graduated into film direction.

His first film was The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), made for TV. His first critically acclaimed movie was Bad Blood (1982), concerning the 1941 manhunt for the New Zealand mass-killer, Stan Graham, played by Jack Thompson. This was followed by Dance with a Stranger (1985), a biographical drama starring Miranda Richardson as Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Great Britain. For his directing efforts, Newell won the Award of the Youth at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.

101 Reykjavík

101 Reykjavík ( pronunciation ) is a 1996 novel by Hallgrímur Helgason which found international fame in 2000 when made into a film. Both are set in Reykjavík, Iceland. The film was directed by Baltasar Kormákur and stars Victoria Abril and Hilmir Snær Guðnason. The title is taken from the postal code for down-town Reykjavík, "the old city". The film won nine B-class film awards and received ten nominations most notably winning the Discovery Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot of the film

Geek Hlynur is approaching the grand old age of 30, he still lives with his mother who is divorced from his alcoholic father, downloads cyberporn and wanders around Reykjavík half-heartedly searching for a job while spending lots of time in Kaffibarinn, the central Reykjavík bar (the bar is owned in real life by writer/director Baltasar Kormákur and his soundtrack composer Damon Albarn, a long-standing Icelandophile). The cramped, dark and oddly furnished house in which Hlynur and his mother live features a bath which transfigures into a sofa as Hlynur steps naked out of it, in the middle of the lounge with his mother watching.