I recently had the opportunity to talk with Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson about his first feature film, and the countries’ official Oscar selection for 2012, Volcano. The drama about an older man trying to make amends with his family, has been well received around the world. Rúnar was recently nominated for the Golden Camera Award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Here’s what Rúnar had to say about the film and his approach to filmmaking.

Filmdogs: First of all congrats.

Rúnar: Yeah, thank you.

Filmdogs: What can you tell us about your background in the film industry?

Rúnar: When I was a kid, I was taking photographs, making ugly sculptures and paintings from pictures, and when I was 17 there was a buddy of mine who got a VHS camera, and we made our first short together.  It first was then that all this different media was coming, that I had been unsuccessful [with] came together in one medium, so to say. After that I starting making a lot of shorts, and then when I was like 20 or something like that I started to work on other peoples films. So, I was doing maybe, I think, [several] films as a continuity girl, Gaffer, Best Boy, etc.. And I just got infected. I got the disease.  Of course wanted my films to evolve to get a little bit better, and I got a little bit better at what I was doing. It was 2003 that I got the first little bit of money to do a short film which became The Last Farm.

Filmdogs: And that film was nominated for an Oscar correct?

Rúnar: Yeah, and that film helped me into the National Film School of Denmark. That was my entry film. So, that was exactly what I needed at that time. There are limitations on how far you can develop yourself with no money, and it was being in heaven to me to be in film school, to have a budget to play with, to have all the equipment and to be in this program for four years with people who are interested in the same things as you and basically not do anything else…
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