Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse in Iceland

I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.

The documentary is about the filming of Beowulf and Grendel starring Gerard Butler and Stelland Skarsgard. Jon Gustafsson, the director of the documentary, had a minor role in the film and spent many days on the set doing nothing, so he decided to take a camera and start shooting the production. Filmed in Iceland, the production of Beowulf and Grendel faced many catastrophes. Constant budget problems and horrible weather conditions nearly every day made the fall production in 2004 unbearable.

It was very interesting to watch and see how determined Sturla Gunnarsson, the director of Beowulf and Grendel, was. He had to finish the film. I have yet to see the finished film, but now I must seek it out. Regardless of how the movie turns out to be (Gustafsson himself told me I might not be impressed) I will have a great respect for the film.

Gustafsson was the festival and was a cool guy. Someone asked him if the documentary made the production of the film look worse than it really was. He replied that when he showed it to a fellow member of the film Beowulf if he thought the documentary did that, the person said, "No, it's sugar-coated".

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Canadian filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson arrives in Iceland to make his film Beowulf and Grendel, but the elements are against him and his crew.

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