Photo: Lilja Jóns, © Go to Sheep, 2021
Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw based New Europe Film Sales revealed the first teaser for LAMB, the highly anticipated debut feature from Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson, starring Noomi Rapace (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, PROMETHEUS). The company also confirms that A24 has taken all North American rights to LAMB, and will release later this year.
LAMB will world premiere on Tuesday, May 13th in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard competitive sidebar, where it is already gathering steam as one of the hottest Cannes titles set to premiere outside the main competition.
In LAMB, a childless couple in rural Iceland make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn. They soon face the consequences of defying the will of nature, in this dark and atmospheric folktale, the striking debut feature from director Valdimar Jóhannsson.
Noomi Rapace (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, PROMETHEUS) stars alongside the well known Icelandic actors Hilmir Snaer Gu∂nason and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson. LAMB marks a return to Iceland for global Swedish born star Noomi Rapace, who grew up in Iceland, where she also began her acting career.
LAMB is produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir (“Summer Children,” “Angels of the Universe”) and Sara Nassim at Go to Sheep in co-production with Piodor Gustafsson (“Border,” “The Wife”) and Erik Rydell at Black Spark Prods., and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska (“Mr. Jones,” “High Life”) and Jan Naszewski at Madants/NEM Corp, Film i Väst, Chimney Sweden and Chimney Poland, in association with Rabbit Hole Prods.The film is supported by the Icelandic Film Center, Iceland’s Ministry of Industries and Innovation, Swedish Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Eurimages and Nordic Film and TV Fund.
Valdimar Jóhannsson was born in 1978 in the north of Iceland. He has been active in the Icelandic film industry for two decades, as a leading crew-member both in Icelandic films as well as larger service productions. Lamb is Valdimar’s first feature film. He has previously directed short films, some of them award winning and widely distributed. From 2013–2015 he was in the PhD program at Bela Tarr’s Filmfactory in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. His mentors there included Tilda Swinton, Gus Van Sant, Carlos Reygadas and Apichatpong Weerasethakul among others. Valdimar currently lives in Reykjavik, Iceland with his wife and daughters.
Noomi Rapace captured the eyes of the international entertainment community with her commanding, unnerving and critically acclaimed portrayal of ‘Lisbeth Salander’ in the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. In addition to her powerful presence on screen, as a gifted creative and thought leader, Rapace has a discerning eye with strong instincts that aid in translating and realizing storytelling for audiences.
Recent roles include Yuval Adler’s The Secrets We Keep, opposite Joel Kinnaman and Chris Messina, in which she stars and also executive produced as well as Oscar nominated director Tom Van Avermaet’s short film, Hearts of Stone. Rapace was also recently featured in season two of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, opposite John Krasinski for Amazon in 2019. She is currently in production and starring in director Tommy Wirkola’s Norwegian-language thriller film, The Trip.
Rapace, who grew up in Iceland, began her acting career at the age of seven, with the Icelandic film In the Shadow of the Raven. She has since gone to appear in over twenty films and television shows. Additional film credits include Kim Farrant’s Angel of Mine; Robert Budreau’s Stockholm, co-starring opposite Ethan Hawke; Vicky Jewson’s Close, David Ayer’s fantasy realm film Bright, alongside Will Smith and Joel Edgerton; Mikael Hafstrom’s Unlocked; Tommy Wirkola’s What Happened to Monday?; Steven Shainberg’s sci-fi adventure thriller Rupture, alongside Peter Stormare and Kerry Bishe; Daniel Espinosa’s film adaptation of the critically acclaimed Tom Rob Smith novel, Child 44 opposite Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman and Jason Clarke; Michaël R. Roskam’s crime-drama The Drop alongside Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini; Niels Arden Oplev’s Dead Man Down in which she reunited with director and starred opposite Colin Farrell; Guy Ritchie’s sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law; as well as Brian DePalma’s Passion, alongside Rachel McAdams and Karoline Herfurth.
