Icelandic rock documentary “Band,” which is premiering in the Changing Face of Europe section of Hot Docs Film Festival, has debuted its trailer.
The comedic film, written and directed by Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir, follows an all-female rock group The Post Performance Blues Band, who give themselves a year to finally breakthrough as rock stars or quit forever. The band members, on the brink of 40, juggle their artistic dreams, the meaning of friendship and the pressures of motherhood.
Örnólfsdóttir says she focuses “on the beauty and possibilities that rejection brings” in the film. “The band fails over and over again, making the three women the perfect antagonists for a film. It would be a tragedy if it were a solo project, there is nothing funny about failing alone. But bring three together and a camera and we have a heartbreaking comedy.”
She says the structure is “dream-like with flashbacks, musical interludes and performances mixed in with chronological and realist storytelling.”
Örnólfsdóttir appears in the film herself as one of the band members alongside Hrefna Lind Lárusdóttir and Saga Sigurðardóttir.
Örnólfsdóttir is a playwright, stage director and actor. “Band” is her debut film as a director. She is developing a new feature film called “Shitballs.”
Heather Millard and Þórður Jónsson are producing for Compass Films.
Millard’s productions include “Yarn” (SXSW, 2016), “Of Good Report” (Toronto Film Festival, 2013) and “Future of Hope” (IDFA, 2010). Jonsson has directed several films including “Eat, Grow, Love” (2017), and co-directed “Yarn.”