The Star Guest at the 2026 Tampere Film Festival is the Icelandic film director and founder of the production company HALIBUT, Rúnar Rúnarsson. His films have received international recognition for over two decades. The programme features a Retrospective screening, presenting four fictional short films from Rúnarsson’s career. In addition to the short films, the feature-length fiction Bergmál (Echo, Iceland, 2019) will be shown.
Rúnarsson will be available to meet festival audiences in connection with the screenings. In addition, a Rúnarsson Masterclass will be held, open to the public free of charge.
Read a more detailed introduction below.
Rúnar Rúnarsson (b. 1977) is an Icelandic film director and the founder of the production company HALIBUT. His films – both features and shorts – have received international recognition for over two decades.
Early in his career, Rúnarsson garnered around 100 international film awards for his short film trilogy Crossroads, whose first film, The Last Farm (2004), was also nominated for an Academy Award in 2006.
Rúnarsson graduated from the Directors’ line of The National Film School of Denmark in 2009. His debut feature film, Volcano, premiered in 2011 at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, where it was nominated for the Caméra d’Or.
After completing several feature films, Rúnarsson returned to the short film format with O (2024), which has screened widely at international festivals and received multiple awards, including the Audience Award in the International Competition at the 2025 Tampere Film Festival.
This year at Tampere Film Festival, a selection of Rúnarsson’s short films as well as the feature-length fiction film Echo (2019) will be screened. In addition, a Rúnarsson Masterclass will be held, open to the public free of charge.
