Sons of the Soil

There is fraternal strife in the house of Ørlygur. While Ormarr, the elder son of the large-scale Icelandic farmer is pursuing a career in Copenhagen, back home younger son Ketill is developing into something of a rapscallion. He has his eyes on Ormarr’s fiancée Alma, after previously setting his sights on Ørlygur’s foster daughter Rúna. When he abuses his position as pastor to lay the blame for his sinful deeds on relatives, the "Orlygson’s Shame" as the film was called in German provokes a catastrophe … The 1919 film was made with Danish and Icelandic actors and is based on a four-volume family saga written by Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889—1975) titled "Borgslægtens Historie" (The Family from Borg). It was the first narrative film ever shot in Iceland, and the trade magazine Kinematograph wrote in 1920, "you see magnificent landscapes and folk imagery, close-ups of children, farmers, and old women whose faces you feel you will never be able to forget". – With new music by Þoìrður Magnusson, performed by SinfoniaNord.