The Minister of Higher Education is satisfied with The Icelandic Film School

It has been three and a half years since The Icelandic Film School officially applied to move up to university level, and with that from the Ministry of Education and Children's Affairs and to the Ministry of Higher Education, which Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir is now leading. Last fall, an international evaluation of The Film School took place, which ended with a satisfactory result. The committee that evaluated the school out this fall was composed of Dr. Stephen Jackson, United Kingdom, Dr. Christina Roznyai, Hungary and Ralph A. Wolff from the USA, all of whom are experts in university quality systems. The result of the evaluation was that the committee confirmed that learning and teaching are at university level. However, the committee did not believe that the school was ready to bear the name university until certain conditions were met that it outlined, and The Film School has spent the last months working to fulfill.

The minister took a look at a class with actor Thorsteinn Bachmann, where he taught acting students how to audition for a role by recording a video of themselves in the role without a co-star. But this has become the norm in auditions today, where actors can take part in such auditions for big Hollywood projects wherever they are in the world, in Kópasker or in Khisinau.

Then the minister met with screenwriters and directors who are finishing their final project, as graduation for this semester of The Film School is coming up.

Finally, we went to the school's movie theater where videos were shown and the school's issues were discussed with the minister. But then the minister had to leave as he has many responsibilities as the summit of the European Council begins today.

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, said that the visit had been a pleasure and she was aware of how important the school was to the Icelandic film industry. "An informative and interesting visit," said the minister. "Really pleasing to see these young people learning this important trade."

Since 2004, the Icelandic Film School has graduated about 600 students from the school. According to studies commissioned by the school, more than 90% of graduating students have worked in filmmaking for some time after graduation, and around 40% of them have done so all the time since graduation. The Icelandic Film School has, together with The Film Center, become one of the two most important pillars of the film industry in Iceland.