Baltasar Kormákur

Multitalented, multilingual filmmaker and actor Baltasar Kormakur ranks among Iceland's premier talent. After distinguishing himself as an actor in the '90s, Kormakur's directorial debut in 2000 proved a tour de force. An offbeat mother-son drama based on the novel by Hallgrímur Helgason, "101 Reykjavík" won international acclaim on the festival circuit, and took home honors at the Edda Awards in Iceland for its outstanding adapted screenplay. Kormakur's second feature upped the ante for family dysfunction. "The Sea" revolves around the repressed neuroses of several estranged siblings brought together to discuss the future of their abusive father's fishery. The film swept the Edda Awards, winning in eight of its twelve nominated categories, and Kormakur won both Director of the Year and Best Film. In 2005, Kormakur made his first English-language feature. "A Little Trip to Heaven" featured Forest Whitaker and Julia Stiles in a twisty thriller about a million dollar insurance policy. 2010's "Inhale" was the director's next English language endeavor, and stars Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger as a couple desperately in search of a doctor to treat their ailing daughter. In 2012, Kormakur tackled his first unabashedly Hollywood film: "Contraband", starring Mark Wahlberg. The high-octane actioner--a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film "Reykjavík-Rotterdam", in which Kormakur played the lead-- debuted at number one at the U.S. box office.