18 Winters

Creative Documentary

Director Anastasiia Bortuali
DoP Sebastian Ziegler

Supported by the Icelandic Film Center, Documentary Campus and RÚV

Principal photography is currently planned for Autumn 2026

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Synopsis

In Iceland, winter arrives early and stays long. For four migrant teenagers, this particular winter is also a threshold — the last stretch of childhood before adulthood lands with decisions about the future: its permanence, and its quiet demands. 18 Winters is an observational documentary that follows four young people through one Icelandic winter, each on the edge of turning eighteen, each carrying different experiences from different countries, different mother tongues and religious backgrounds. Each of them has a different relationship to the word home. They are passing exams, keeping part-time jobs, falling in love — and racing quieter clocks: some for residency permits and for some it is simply the uncertainty of what belonging actually means when you have built your life somewhere that was never quite yours to begin with..