The Seagull's Laughter

Mávahlátur is a novel by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir, published in 1995 by Mál og menning. Set around 1950, the story portrays a pivotal moment in Iceland’s recent history: newly independent, with the legacy of the Second World War still prominent, Iceland is modernising and internationalising. The film is set in Hafnarfjörður, now effectively a suburb of Reykjavík, then a fishing town outside it: 'the novel illustrates issues of changing femininity, the influence of American values, and the subsequent changes in the Icelandic cultural landscape'.

The novel was adapted as an Icelandic film in 2001 directed by Ágúst Guðmundsson; the English-language release translates the book's title literally, as The Seagull's Laughter. The film is a close adaptation of the book and was Iceland's submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee. It stars Ugla Egilsdóttir as Agga, an orphaned pre-teen distrusting of her cousin Freyja, played by Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir, who turns heads on her return from America, no longer the chubby teen that the Icelandic townspeople remember.