Roman Ægir wins best actor award at Barcelona film festival

Icelandic actor Roman Ægir Fjölnisson has won a leading role award at the Hope and Love international film festival in Barcelona, Morgunblaðið reports.

He received the award for playing Arnór in the 2025 film Ótti, directed by his father, Fjölnir Baldursson. Father and son wrote the screenplay with Charlone Valeriano.

Ótti was nominated for four awards: best film, best direction, best cinematography and best actor in a leading role. The film was screened at the larger of two cinemas in central Barcelona, and its screenings were well attended. The festival brought together 260 filmmakers.

“It was a complete shock to win. I wasn’t expecting it,” Roman Ægir said. He recalled going on stage after hearing his name, but said he could barely remember what he said because of the adrenaline rush.

Roman Ægir said he had been interested in filmmaking since childhood. He moved from the town of Ísafjörður to Reykjavík to pursue that ambition, and is now nearing the end of an acting programme at Kvikmyndaskólinn, a film school.

His next project will be a short film for his graduation, with his father directing and Roman Ægir in the lead role. He said he hopes to make a feature film after that.