Benedikt Erlingsson

Directing

Benedikt Erlingsson

Born 1969-05-31 · Reykjavik, Iceland

Benedikt Erlingsson (born 31 May 1969; Reykjavík) is an Icelandic actor and theater and film director. He graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 1994 and has been with the National Theater of Iceland for most of his career. He has directed two feature-length films, both of which have won the Nordic Council Film Prize.

Acting credits

Touch poster
7.4

Soon after the break of the pandemic and realizing that his clock is ticking, Kristofer gets the urge to embark on a journey to try to find out what really happened when his Japanese girlfriend mysteriously vanished without a trace from London fifty years earlier.

Touch

2024

Áramótaskaup: 2018 poster
NR

Áramótaskaup: 2018 is an Icelandic TV movie satirizing the events of the past year.

Áramótaskaup: 2018

2018

Áramótaskaup: 2016 poster
3.0

Áramótaskaup: 2016 is an annual Icelandic TV movie satirizing the events of the past year.

Áramótaskaup: 2016

2016

When the Light Breaks poster
6.6

When the light breaks on a long summer's day in Iceland. From one sunset to another, Una, a young art student, encounters love, friendship, sorrow and beauty.

When the Light Breaks

2024

The Lost Little Caterpillar poster
5.5

little grub ugly - lands in a variety of adventures in her garden. A leisurely bell bumps into her, she meets a friendly worm, bullied in a bully of bees and an old grumpy spider tries to pluck her. As this is not enough, she is caught by a thief who is going to give her her breakfast for breakfast.

The Lost Little Caterpillar

2002

Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe poster
6.5

Before Dawn charts the years of exile in the life of famous Jewish Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, his inner struggle for the "right attitude" towards the events in war torn Europe and his search for a new home.

Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe

2016

The Boss of It All poster
6.6

The owner of an Information Technology firm wants to sell his business for profit. The trouble is that when he started his firm he invented a nonexistent company president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with the "Boss" face to face the owner has to hire a failed actor to play the part.

The Boss of It All

2006

The Dance poster
6.2

Águst Guðmundsson directed this Icelandic period drama, adapted from the short story We Must Dance by William Heinesen, and set on an island in 1913. Pétur (Gunnar Helgason) narrates, recalling the days when mainlanders arrived for a wedding. Flirtatious Sirsa (Pálína Jónsdottir) marries Harald (Dofri Hermannsson), son of a wealthy landowner on the island. Offshore, a ship is sinking, so the men form a rescue party, returning with the captain, the engineer, and several sailors. With a storm gathering, the engineer dies. The clergyman requests an end to the festivities as a mark of respect. Sirsa protests, but her new husband brings the celebration to a halt. The group then fragments into different activities, drunken or otherwise, and the sensual Sirsa directs her attention toward the handsome Ívar (Baldur Trausti Hreinsson). The film's score features traditional folk music.

The Dance

1998

Parents poster
5.8

The dentist Oscar has been married for five years and lives with his wife and adopted children. On the surface everything seems to be fine but Oscar is not a happy man. His wants a baby of his own flesh and blood but it's not working out. When he finds out that his wife has been deceiving him all these years he decides it's time for a change. Einar is a stockbroker who is very successful at work but not in his personal life. For the last couple of months Einar has been living at a hotel waiting for his wife to realize the terrible mistake she made by throwing him out. Katrin Rose returns from Sweden where she has lived for eight years. In Iceland Katrin has an eleven-year-old son, brought up by his grandmother and now Katrin wants him back. Katrin gets a job as a dentist's assistant intending to make a fresh start but her troubled past catches up with her.

Parents

2007

Njalssaga poster
7.0

TV movie based on the first chapters of the Icelandic Brennu-Njáls saga. The first part of Njálssaga is a half-hour long drama based on a part of Brenna-Nálssaga. It tells the story of Hallgerður Langbrók having food stolen in Kirkjubær and the horse she received as a reward from Gunnar. This is followed by Gunnar's quarrel with Otkel in Kirkjubær and his advisor Skammkel. Their business ends with Gunnar killing both of them. The second part is a half-hour long documentary where scholars bring out something interesting about this part of the story.

Njalssaga

2003

Polite People poster
6.2

A desperate city slicker engineer cheats his way into a small farming community, pretending to know how to save them by re-financing their slaughterhouse not knowing that he's walking into a local world war of small-town politics and general misbehaving.

Polite People

2011

The Nail poster
6.0

Robert is an important man with big responsibilities. One day he has an accident that blurs the border between the man and the beast within. Robert acts out and suffers the consequences.

The Nail

2008

The Higher Force poster
5.6

Ashamed for being a debt-collecting thug, David believes that he is an ugly duckling waiting to become a swan. Through an unlikely mentor he finds out that life has indeed something very special in store for him.

The Higher Force

2008

The Seagull's Laughter poster
5.5

Post-war provincial Iceland: around 1950, Freyja, who'd been a plump teen, returns from America, a widow with a 20-inch waist, seven suitcases of dresses, and a list of who ever wronged or slighted her. She moves in with an aunt and socialist uncle: finding a new husband is high on her agenda, and she's mistrusted by Agga, a pre-teen who's our eyes and ears. The social order and Freyja are more complicated than they seem at first, and so may be her prospects. Class divisions, families ties, pride, the onset of puberty, and the power of Eros sliver the ice.

The Seagull's Laughter

2001

Circledrawers poster
NR

Welcome to world of the Circledrawers - lowly janitors of the Almighty's imperfect system, angels living among us and performing the most mundane of tasks. Oleg, a special emissary has arrived at transmission central in Iceland to do the semi-centennial report on the efficiency of the Circledrawer system.

Circledrawers

2009

No artwork available
NR

The fate of a crosseyed sheep in the highlands of Iceland.

She Talks Icelandic

2006

Volcano poster
6.9

Hannes is an old man who has grown apart from his children. Recently retired when his wife gets ill he tries to reconcile with them and to atone for his cold demeanor in the past.

Volcano

2011

Doomsday poster
NR

Follows the infamous Sólborgarcase where a mother and her brother were accused of killing their newborn.

Doomsday

1998

Hver drap Friðrik Dór? poster
6.0

Villi Neto investigates the potential death of singer Friðrik Dór. On his hunt for truth Villi discovers that the conspiracy is much larger and deeper than anyone could have suspected.

Hver drap Friðrik Dór?

2021

Rattlesnakes poster
NR

Some people have to live their lives on a constant look out for snakes. Some even have to wear boots all the time. But people in Iceland have the privilege of just wearing whatever shoes they want – without any worries.

Rattlesnakes

2007

The Viking Sagas poster
5.6

Dr Janina Ramirez travels across glaciers and through the lava fields of Iceland to find out about one of the most compelling of the great Viking stories - the Laxdaela Saga. This hour-long film explores how the unique literary achievements of the Saga writers were possible at a time of such immense cultural, political and religious upheaval.

The Viking Sagas

2011

Memphis poster
NR

To start with we are led to believe the setting is a country-hotel of some sort. In the end we discover this is a State Rehabilitation Facility and everything that happens is a carefully orchestrated escape plot by some of the inmates. The film was shot on location at an isolated boarding school in Saelingsdalur in the west of Iceland. The school is used as a hotel during the summer months but the film takes place in the wintertime.

Memphis

2002

Behind the camera

Woman at War poster
7.2

Halla declares a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect the pristine Icelandic Highlands she loves… Until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life.

Woman at War

2018

Woman at War poster
7.2

Halla declares a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect the pristine Icelandic Highlands she loves… Until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life.

Woman at War

2018

Woman at War poster
7.2

Halla declares a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect the pristine Icelandic Highlands she loves… Until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life.

Woman at War

2018

Of Horses and Men poster
6.9

A country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human. Love and death become interlaced and with terrible consequences. The fortunes of the people in the country through the horses' perception.

Of Horses and Men

2013

Of Horses and Men poster
6.9

A country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human. Love and death become interlaced and with terrible consequences. The fortunes of the people in the country through the horses' perception.

Of Horses and Men

2013

The Nail poster
6.0

Robert is an important man with big responsibilities. One day he has an accident that blurs the border between the man and the beast within. Robert acts out and suffers the consequences.

The Nail

2008

The Nail poster
6.0

Robert is an important man with big responsibilities. One day he has an accident that blurs the border between the man and the beast within. Robert acts out and suffers the consequences.

The Nail

2008

Poor Iceland poster
NR

When the Icelandic banks collapsed in the autum of 2008, taking most of the economy down with them, Ari Alexander took his camera and started to film what was happening in this tiny but relatively stable and affluent society. He filmed the ever-larger protests that in the end led to the downfall of the government. He took interviews with people shocked and confused by what was going on around them. He went to conferences and seminars where scholars tired to work out what had happened and what should happen next. He followed the endless debates and negotiations around the Icesave-accounts set up by Icelandic banks abroad. Every day brought fresh news of the complicated and often illegal deals made by financiers and bankers in the years leading up to the collapse.

Poor Iceland

2016

Thanks poster
NR

Gunna is driving a lonely mountain road when she suddenly runs out of gas. Luckily she sees a car parked a little further by the roadside. Clueless, she doesn´t notice that Jon, the driver, is planning a suicide, but asks him for help. Their acquaintance leads to a new turn of events.

Thanks

2007

Thanks poster
NR

Gunna is driving a lonely mountain road when she suddenly runs out of gas. Luckily she sees a car parked a little further by the roadside. Clueless, she doesn´t notice that Jon, the driver, is planning a suicide, but asks him for help. Their acquaintance leads to a new turn of events.

Thanks

2007

The Show of Shows: 100 Years of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals poster
7.0

This film tells the story of itinerant circus performers, cabaret acts and fairground attractions, showing rarities and never-before seen footage of fairgrounds, circus entertainment, freak shows, variety performances, music hall and seaside entertainment, chronicled from the 19th and 20th century. We will see early shows that wowed the world and home movies of some of the greatest circus families. Director Benedikt Erlingsson takes us back to the days when the most outlandish, skillful and breathtaking acts traveled the world. This rich visual archive has been created with exclusive access to The University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archive and is accompanied by an epic new score by Georg Holm and Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, in collaboration with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Kjartan Dagur Holm.

The Show of Shows: 100 Years of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals

2015