Blackport

Blackport (Verbúðin) is an Icelandic television drama miniseries, written by Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Mikael Torfason and produced by Vesturport in association with RÚV. The first episode of the eight part series premiered on the RÚV (TV channel) on 26 December 2021.

Synopsis
The series takes place from 1983 to 1991 and follows a married couple, Harpa and Grimur, who buy an old trawler with their childhood friends and build a small fishing empire in a village in the Westfjords of Iceland. All goes well until the Icelandic government starts enforcing new restrictive fishing quotas which turn their lives upside down and result in a feud of jealousy, greed and betrayal.

Cast and characters

 * Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir as Harpa
 * Gísli Örn Garðarsson as Jón Hjaltalín
 * Björn Hlynur Haraldsson as Grímur
 * Guðjón Davíð Karlsson as Einar
 * Unnur Ösp Stefánsdóttir as Freydís
 * Anna Svava Knútsdóttir as Ella Stína
 * Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir as Tinna
 * Selma Björnsdóttir as Gunný
 * Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Smári
 * Pétur Jóhann Sigfússon as Gils
 * Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir as Jóna Margrét
 * Sverrir Þór Sverrisson as Pétur
 * Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson as Torfi
 * Jóhann Sigurðarson as Sólon
 * Jógvan Hansen as Þrándur
 * Benedikt Erlingsson as Steingrímur Hermannsson
 * Björgvin Franz Gíslason as Hemmi Gunn
 * Björn Stefánsson as Laddi/Elsa Lund

Production
Filming started in 2020 and took place in Reykjavík and in the Westfjords.

Reception
According to a poll by Prósent, 57% of the Icelandic population watched the first episode of the show with 88% giving it a positive review. Following the shows première, Independence Party parliamentarian Ásmundur Friðriksson criticised the show for its portrayal of the rural people of Iceland.

Awards
In September 2021, the series won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Series Mania festival. In November it won the jury prize at the Serielizados Fest in Spain. On 2 February 2022, the Nordisk Film & TV Fond announced that Gísli Örn Gardarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Mikael Torfason, writers of Blackport, where the recipients of the 2022 Nordic TV Drama Screenplay Award.