Icelandic Sheep Farmers Film Wins At Cannes

Most of the attention at the Cannes Film Festival goes to the winner of the annual Palme d’Or, usually referred to as the top prize at the festival. (This year it went to a French film about Sri Lankan refugees.) But the Un Certain Regard category often has some of the more interesting, oddball films at the festival; it’s designed to reward smaller films, weirder films, usually films from new or new-ish directors rather than the comparatively big-budget films that win the Palme d’Or. This year the winner of Un Certain Regard is of special interest to us, because it’s about farmers.

“Rams” (HrÁºtar in Icelandic) is the second feature from Icelandic director GrÁ­mur HÁ¡konarson. It’s described both as a comedy and a drama by various publications, a story about estranged brothers in a remote Icelandic valley who raise sheep and enter them in competitions.

Their world is thrown into turmoil when an instance of scrapie, a fatal degenerative disease in the same family as mad cow, hits their farm. One brother’s flock is taken away by government agents, and the other seeks his help to avoid the same fate.

You can check out the trailer here:

Via Variety, image taken from trailer