The Most Famous
FILM DIRECTORS from Iceland
This page contains a list of the greatest Icelander Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 2,041 Film Directors, 3 of which were born in Iceland. This makes Iceland the birth place of the 53rd most number of Film Directors behind Montenegro, and Armenia.
Top 5
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Icelander Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Icelander Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Baltasar Kormákur (b. 1966)
With an HPI of 56.74, Baltasar Kormákur is the most famous Icelander Film Director. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages on wikipedia.
Baltasar Kormákur Baltasarsson is an Icelandic actor, theatre and film director, and film producer. He directed the films 101 Reykjavík, The Sea, A Little Trip to Heaven, Contraband, 2 Guns, Everest, Touch, and the TV series Katla.
2. Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (b. 1954)
With an HPI of 56.68, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson is the 2nd most famous Icelander Film Director. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
Friðrik Þór Friðriksson (born 12 May 1954; pronounced [ˈfrɪðrɪk ˈθouːr ˈfrɪðrɪxsɔn]), sometimes credited as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, is an Icelandic film director and producer.
3. Hrafn Gunnlaugsson (b. 1948)
With an HPI of 55.39, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson is the 3rd most famous Icelander Film Director. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Hrafn Gunnlaugsson (born 17 June 1948) is an Icelandic film director. He is mostly known for his series of Viking films, sometimes called "Cod Westerns". He won the award for Best Director at the 20th Guldbagge Awards for When the Raven Flies.
4. Sólveig Anspach (1960 - 2015)
With an HPI of 47.79, Sólveig Anspach is the 4th most famous Icelander Film Director. Her biography has been translated into 14 different languages.
Sólveig Anspach (8 December 1960 – 7 August 2015) was an Icelandic-French film director and screenwriter. Born to a German-Romanian father Gerhard Anspach and an Icelandic mother Högna Sigurðardóttir, she spent most of her life living and working in France. After studying philosophy and clinical psychology in Paris, she enrolled in La Fémis and graduated with a diploma in directing in 1989. Her film Stormy Weather was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Anspach died of breast cancer on 7 August 2015 at the age of 54.
5. Rúnar Rúnarsson (b. 1977)
With an HPI of 40.24, Rúnar Rúnarsson is the 5th most famous Icelander Film Director. His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.
Rúnar Rúnarsson (born 20 January 1977 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic screenwriter and director. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2009. His credits include the feature film Volcano and the short films Anna, Two Birds, and The Last Farm (which was nominated for an Oscar). He is referred to as the most awarded short film director in the world with more than 90 awards. His second feature, Sparrows, is a coming-of-age story that was released in 2015. For Sparrows Rúnarsson won the Silver Hugo for best new director at Chicago International Film Festival. His 2019 film Echo entered the competition of the Locarno Film Festival. His 2024 film When the Light Breaks opened Un Certain Regard section in Cannes. In 2025, the film When the Light Breaks won the Dragon Award Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival
People
Pantheon has 5 people classified as Icelander film directors born between 1948 and 1977. Of these 5, 4 (80.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Icelander film directors include Baltasar Kormákur, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson, and Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. The most famous deceased Icelander film directors include Sólveig Anspach. As of April 2024, 2 new Icelander film directors have been added to Pantheon including Sólveig Anspach, and Rúnar Rúnarsson.
Living Icelander Film Directors
Go to all Rankings
Baltasar Kormákur
1966 - Present
HPI: 56.74
Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
1954 - Present
HPI: 56.68
Hrafn Gunnlaugsson
1948 - Present
HPI: 55.39
Rúnar Rúnarsson
1977 - Present
HPI: 40.24
