Elísa Gyrðisdóttir - Acting
Elísa Gyrðisdóttir is graduating from Acting with her film “Undertow”
“Undertow” is a dark comedy that also carefully embraces a sensitive subject. The story centers on Eyja, a fun but sarcastic woman that shows up for a family reunion and gets sucked into an old codependency pattern among colorful family members. She decides to break out of it and make her cousin face the fact that he abused her as a child. He deals with it in an unexpected way, but they have to deal with what comes to the surface in the family as a result of this. The story is based on real events.
What is the first film experience you remember that had an impact on you?
Movie experiences that stand out are probably when I went to "Children of nature" in the cinema on my 6th birthday and "Twin Peaks" which I saw when I was 11 years old.
What fascinates you about filmmaking?
What fascinates me about movies as an art form is that you can bring people into your world. What fascinates me is that many people create the artwork together, you can't make a (good) movie alone. There is such a rare atmosphere that is created in these situations when everyone is supporting the same work of art. And it's just so much fun.
Why did you choose Acting?
I tried my best not to become an actor. But here we are. There are many things more practical but this is more fun. I don't remember anything other than thinking "how do they do this, how would I do this" every time I watched the movies, completely fascinated by the acting. I majored in drama in college, but a chaotic childhood, trauma, and an eating disorder meant that I didn't have the self-control to allow myself to enjoy doing it. As I worked on myself and grew out of it, it was the obvious first choice.
Did anything particularly surprise you during your studies?
-How much all kinds of different experiences are useful to me, for example, it's no different planning a wedding or a big children's birthday than producing a short film really.
-How much I enjoy everything on all the courses, I would have almost been willing to learn it all.
-How good a relationship you have with the teachers and not least fellow students.
-What a big change you can achieve in a short time.
And what does the future look like?
The future is very exciting in my eyes, I feel that I have the skills and ability to both participate in other projects and create my own. I want to write comedy shows, do podcasts, act in movies and do voice overs, get to know all kinds of different characters and live their lives for a while and hopefully give something of myself along the way!
