John Hurt's heartbreaking new film about a pensioner who takes his life at sea after escaping a home for the elderly is a tribute to the filmmaker's late grandfather.
Elfar Adalsteins' Sailcloth is among the short films tipped to land an Oscar nomination next month (Jan12) and the Icelandic director reveals the movie was inspired by his granddad's death.
He explains, "I was raised by my grandparents in a small fishing village on the East Coast of Iceland, as far away from the capital as you can get. My grandfather passed away in 2008 and the idea came to me a year later and I gradually built it up in my head. He withered away in a nursing home where he spent his last seven years. So, possibly I just wrote him an alternative exit."
Hurt is also very proud of the short, adding, "It's a glorious exit, I think. That’s what I love about the film. It’s about suicide so everybody thinks that it's got to be gloomy, it's got to be miserable. But I don't think it is. I think it's a fantastic celebration."