“The movie creates communication between people who can’t communicate anymore”: Vladimir de Fontenay and Woody Norman on My Father’s Island

My Father’s Island is the atmospheric feature from Vladimir de Fontenay (Mobile Homes), which adapts a novella by David Vann, Sukkwan Island, itself a meditation on grief, family and reconciliation. It stars Woody Norman, who previously starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix in C’mon C’mon, as Roy, and the brilliant Swann Arlaud as his estranged father, who wishes to reconnect via a stay on a remote Norwegian island. Its premise initially suggests a survival thriller, but it quickly morphs into something far stranger, as Tom’s total lack of preparedness – and, even more worryingly, increasingly fragile mental state – becomes apparent.

Ahead of the film’s UK release, we spoke with de Fontenay about discovering Vann’s text through a recommendation from his own father, adapting such deeply personal source material and finding his perfect cast. Norman reflected on first reading the script at just 12 years old, returning to it several years later with a completely different perspective, and developing the emotionally complex father-son relationship with Arlaud. They both shared the brutal realities of shooting on location in the Arctic wilderness as well as the unsettling undercurrents of the feature, which speak to different audiences in contrasting ways, whether ruminating on performed masculinity, degraded mental health, how our relationships with our parents can shape us, and how we might revisit childhood memories through fresh eyes as adults.

Sarah Bradbury

My Father’s Island is released in select cinemas on 3^rd July 2026.

Watch the trailer for My Father’s Island here: