Tails of Iceland

Heavy Horse Pull

1977 · ★ 9

This short documentary offers a humorous look at horse-pulling contests in Ontario and the people who prepare for them. We travel from the farm to the contest, where excitement runs high and the quips do not lack in local colour. Which of these magnificent creatures will be able to pull the heaviest load and win the prize?

Horses

2010

What might it be like to be a horse? Not just any horse, but a top-end racehorse in Ireland? This is the question Horses explores, following three promising, charismatic horses over the course of one rather difficult racing year, bringing us into their world and revealing their distinct individual characters. Beautiful, unusual, and highly entertaining, the film combines the drama of a sports movie with the exploration of an ancient human obsession, offering a subtle critique of humanity's quirks on the side. (Storyville)

Seabiscuit: The Lost Documentary

2003 · ★ 8

Made in 1939 by Seabiscuit's owner Charles Howard. This inspirational film chronicles Seabiscuit's life from birth, through training, and the legendary match race with War Admiral.

Sarfo

2022

The life of a racehorse, days before an important racing competition at the Hippodrome of Buenos Aires

The Ring Road

1985 · ★ 5.8

Experimental film of a trip around Iceland, filmed on the circular highway with a wide angle lens camera registering one frame every 12 seconds.

Trained Hoofs

1935 · ★ 7.5

This short film focuses on how racehorses are trained.

Chmyz

The film follows the first days of a newborn horse. The camera records its encounter with the world into which it was born – from its first steps, through joyful galloping, to its initiation as a member of the herd. We see the world from the foal's perspective, with humans serving only as a backdrop for the story of the unique bond between mother and child.

A Mountaineering Memory

1918

A scenic documentary record of a climb up to Mount Assiniboine, the 'American Matterhorn' in the Canadian Rockies.

Time and Water

2026 · ★ 6.3

Facing the death of his country’s glaciers and the loss of his beloved grandparents, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away — family, memory, time, and water.

Hästmannen – sista striden

2014

About a man's fierce battle with the authorities to keep his horses.

Fire on Heimaey

1990 · ★ 6.3

Beautiful documentary by Osvaldur Knudsen about the eruption on Heimaey in the Vestmann Islands in 1973 (South of Iceland). The eruption destroyed some 30% of the town's houses and lasted for more than 5 months. Nice narration like in the old days and some nice sound(track) by Magnus Bl. Johannsson.

Hello, Horse!

2017 · ★ 8

A film about everything changing while remaining the same. Or rather – everything remaining the same while changing. We observed this (and wanted to share) while standing (standing regularly and for a long time) on a road rather close to the Eastern border of Latvia, because we followed the suggestion of the locals who asked to shoot “that horrible road”.