Ari is a quiet, lanky 16-year-old who sings counter-tenor in a Reykjavík choir. When his mother takes off for Africa with her new Danish husband, he's sent to live with his estranged father in the distant western fjords, where the locals medicate the ills of a declining economy with alcohol. While his hard-partying dad and loving but frail grandmother do their best to mend the broken past, local bullies and rough living leave Ari struggling to find his place.

Unfolding with pathos and understated emotion, Sparrows is a bittersweet coming-of-age story about learning to stand up for yourself. Boasting sensitive direction by Rúnar Rúnarsson, fine acting, a hypnotic score by Kjartan Sveinsson (Sigur Rós) and truly spectacular surroundings, the film was a big winner on the 2015 festival circuit from San Sebastián to Warsaw to São Paulo.

"A measured, moving mini-bildungsroman, which sees Rúnarsson carrying over the observational exactitude and majestic sense of place that distinguished his strong 2011 debut Volcano." Guy Lodge, Variety

Winner: Best Film, San Sebastian, São Paolo, Warsaw

Rúnar Rúnarsson – Director (January 7 & 8 only)

Atli Oskar Fjalarsson – Actor (January 7 & 8 only)