Mikael Torfason

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Mikael Torfason (2018)

Mikael Torfason (born August 8, 1974 in Reykjavík ) is an Icelandic writer, journalist and film director.

Life

childhood and education

Mikael Torfason grew up as the son of the hairdresser Torfi Geirmundsson and the housewife Hulda Fríða Berndsen in Reykjavík. In the first years of his life he suffered from a congenital megacolon , a sometimes life-threatening bowel disease. During his school days, he attended the traditional girls' high school in his hometown (Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavík), which has also been open to male students since 1977, and the high school in the Hlíðahverfi district. After graduating from high school, he studied English literature at West Los Angeles College and the University of Iceland .

journalism

After completing his training, Mikael began a journalistic career with the cultural magazine Fjölnir . Shortly afterwards he switched to the magazine Fókus , of which he was editor-in-chief from 1998 to 2000. In the same position he worked from 2003 to 2006 for the daily newspaper Dagblaðið Vísir (DV). After further activities, he temporarily headed the editorial team of the weekly Fréttatíminn, which was launched in 2010 . From 2013 to 2014 he was editor-in-chief of the media company 365 miðlar , which publishes Fréttablaðið , Iceland's largest daily newspaper, which is distributed free of charge. Mikael also writes regularly for radio and television.

Prose and drama

Mikael's first novel Falskur Fugl (Wrong Bird) was published in 1997. In it he portrays a 16-year-old teenager from a well-to-do family whose life is completely upside down when his older brother takes his own life. Mikael's fellow writer Hallgrímur Helgason considered Falskur Fugl to be “the best Icelandic novel in years”. The book was filmed in 2013 under the title Ferox and nominated in several categories for the Edda Film Prize. Mikael's second novel Saga af stúlku (The Story of a Girl) is also about the complex identity of an adolescent person.

At the center of his next novel, Heimsins Heimskasti pabbi (The stupidest father in the world), is the sports journalist Marteinn, who - according to Wolfgang Müller in a review - staggers "somewhat moonstruck through the landscape of broken relationships, sensual pleasures and the meaning of life" and behind aggressive speech reveals an “uncanny longing for stability and order”. The book was translated into several languages, including German, and proposed for the Nordic Council's literary prize . The Icelandic financial and banking crisis is reflected in the novel Vormenn Íslands (Spring in Iceland) from 2009.

Mikael presented an Icelandic bestseller with his souvenir book Týnd í Paradís , published in 2015 , which was given the title Lost in Paradise in the German translation by Tina Flecken . Here the author tells of his difficult childhood in the style of an auto-fiction . In view of his threatening intestinal disease, Mikael's parents, who belong to the Christian community of Jehovah's Witnesses , refuse a blood transfusion out of religious conviction and thus endanger the child's life. The story, Mikael's own, is presented “like a kaleidoscope in numerous mosaic pieces of memory” and enables numerous views of Icelandic society. The subsequent publication, Syndafallið (German title: Die Fallenden; literally: The Fall of Man ), treats the death of Mikael's father Torfi in a similar way.

In addition to these and other prose works, Mikael also wrote several dramas. His version of the Njáls saga , created in cooperation with Þorleifur Örn Arnarsson and Erna Ómarsdóttir, was performed at Borgarleikhúsið in 2015 . The production was awarded the Icelandic Gríman Theater Prize in ten categories. In 2018 he again worked with Þorleifur Örn Arnarsson on a stage version of the Edda , which was premiered at the Staatstheater Hannover . The production received the Faust Theater Prize in the same year .

Film work

In 2002 Mikael emerged as the screenwriter and director of the film Gemsar (literally: mobile phones; international title: Made in Iceland), which received nominations for the Gothenburg International Film Festival's Dragon Award .

bibliography

Prose works

Dramas (selection)

  • Hinn fullkomni maður (The perfect man). Borgarleikhúsið , 2002.
  • Harmsaga (tragedy). Icelandic National Theater , 2013.
  • Njáls saga (Njáls saga). Borgarleikhúsið, 2015.
  • Guð blessi Ísland (God bless Iceland). Borgarleikhúsið, 2017.
  • The Edda . State Theater Hanover, 2018.

Translations

  • The stupidest father in the world . Translated from Icelandic by Tina Flecken. Tropen Verlag, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-932170-65-2 .
  • Lost in Paradise. Poor kings of Iceland, an American heaven and me, Torfi's second son . Translated from Icelandic by Tina Flecken. Edition Stroux, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-9818430-2-6 .
  • The falling . Translated from Icelandic by Tina Flecken. Edition Stroux, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-9818430-9-5 .

Filmography

  • Gemsar (Made in Iceland), directed by Mikael Torfason, 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Falskur Fugl ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , midi.is (accessed February 15, 2018). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / midi.is
  2. ^ Edda Award. Awards 2014 , imdb.com (accessed February 15, 2018).
  3. ↑ Der Tagesspiegel , November 15, 2003.
  4. ^ "Lied der Weite" and "Lost in Paradise" ( Memento from February 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), br.de , January 24, 2018.
  5. ↑ Njála tops the Icelandic Theater Awards, icelandreview.com, June 16, 2016 (accessed February 15, 2018).
  6. ^ The Edda retold by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson and Mikael Torfason , Staatstheater-hannover.de (accessed on February 15, 2018).
  7. ↑ Fabulous: "Die Edda" Hanover Theater , Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, March 16, 2018.

Web links

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .
personal data
SURNAME Mikael Torfason
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Icelandic writer, journalist and film director
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Reykjavík