On November 4, Scandinavia House presents a special screening and director talk featuring Iceland’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards: the tender, reflective documentary The Ground Beneath Our Feet. Director Yrsa Roca Fannberg will be present for a film talk and Q&A.
The Ground Beneath Our Feet / Jörðin undir fótum okkar
Dir. Yrsa Roca Fannberg (doc), Iceland/Poland, 2025 | 82 min.
In Icelandic with English subtitles
“Has a poetic eye for the small mysteries and miracles of everyday life” — The highly acclaimed documentary takes place inside Grund, Iceland’s oldest retirement home located in Reykjavik. Rather than focusing narrowly on the end of life, the film captures the rhythmic passage of seasons and the everyday moments — joys, quiet routines, small miracles, and simple interactions. The viewer is given space to dwell in these moments, connect with the characters, and draw their own conclusions. In this way, the intimate and personal also becomes universal.
With warmth, rich nuances and great sensitivity, director Yrsa Roca Fannberg’s visually outstanding and reflective documentary does not only explore and celebrate the lives of the elders, but also life itself; winner of the Golden Lynx Award for Best Documentary Feature Film at New Films Festival, Grand Prize at DMZ Docs in South Korea, Tromsø Palm for Best Feature at Tromsø International Film Festival, and others.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
YRSA ROCA FANNBERG is born in Iceland, with Catalan heritage and brought up in Sweden. She has a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art, London and a Master in Creative Documentary from Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Salóme (2014, 58 min), her first documentary won the Nordisk Panorama Best Nordic Documentary award, as well as several other awards. The Last Autumn (2019, 78 min) her first-feature length documentary premiered at Karlovy Vary Int. Film Festival. At Nordisk Panorama it received the Jury Special Mention, also at RIFF and MajorDocs. It was screened at many major documentary film festivals. The Ground Beneath Our Feet is her second feature documentary premiered at CPH:Dox. The film has screened widely all over the world. Yrsa is an avid analogue photographer, who exhibits her work and teaches creative documentaries and history of documentary at the University of Iceland and organizes workshops for Icelandic documentaries.