Sharing Icelandic sheep round-up in the U.S.

The short documentary Fjallferð was filmed in Landmannaafréttur in the autumn of 2024. Three young American filmmakers — Jesse Smolan, Josh Fairmont, and Ollie Smith — contacted Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson, known as RAX, and were granted permission to join the annual sheep round-up in the highlands.

The 16-minute film captures the spirit and atmosphere of this centuries-old tradition, featuring interviews and scenes from the herding process, with a focus on the younger generation and those who have participated in the round-up since childhood.

The film premiered at the Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) this year and has also been accepted to other international festivals, including one in California that expects around 58,000 visitors. It has already received awards at a U.S. film festival.

Among those interviewed are RAX, who has documented the round-ups at Landmannaafréttur for decades and published two photography books on the subject; Kristinn Guðnason, who has served as fjallkóngur (round-up leader) since 1980; Margrét Heiða Stefánsdóttir, a woman in her thirties who has joined the round-up with her family since childhood; and Ingvar P. Guðjónsson, who first joined the round-up at 16 and has done so every year since.

Inspired by RAX’s work

Director Jesse Smolan, a recent graduate from the University of Colorado and a native of New York, told mbl.is that the idea for the film came after following RAX’s work for some time.

“I’d been following his photography for a long while and decided to message him on Instagram. I wanted to make a documentary somewhere in the North that explored cultural traditions or a close-knit, almost self-sustaining community — but I didn’t yet know what the subject would be,” he said.

The two spoke for several hours about RAX’s work and the Icelandic sheep round-up tradition. “That really resonated with me, and I immediately thought it would make a perfect subject — especially today, when the round-ups are in some ways at risk of disappearing. So, I decided to come over with two of my friends from film school that September.”

“It was a wonderful experience”

When they arrived in Iceland, the trio first met with Ragnar, who introduced them to local farmers. “At the end of the interview, RAX said he had to rush off to an urgent assignment — something to photograph in Greenland — so he couldn’t join us for the round-up. But he sent us the GPS coordinates for the farmers’ mountain hut, and when we arrived, the farmers immediately treated us like family,” Smolan recalled.

“It was a wonderful experience.”

“It definitely helped to drink with them”

Jesse described the first evening they spent with the farmers — three outsiders showing up with two cameras and a drone. “We wanted to make sure we captured everything properly, but we were also aware that they didn’t know us. They had only heard from RAX that we could be trusted. We wanted to build our own relationship with them, so on our second night we decided to put the cameras down.”

He said the farmers spent the evenings singing, playing guitar, reading lyrics, telling stories, and dancing in the cabin. “We put everything aside and joined in — danced, sang, and talked all night. After that, everyone was so much more relaxed in front of the camera, and the energy was completely different.”

Laughing, he added, “It definitely helped to drink with them. That’s usually a good way to get to know people.”