Biography for
Olaf de Fleur Johannesson More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

2 February 1975, Búðardalur, Iceland

Birth Name

Ólafur Jóhannesson

Nickname

Oli

Mini Biography

Olaf de Fleur studied physics in Reykjavik, graduating in 1995. Since then he has participated in numerous film projects, including both feature and documentary films. After working for two years for a production company, focusing primarily on TV documentaries, he founded the independent production company Poppoli Pictures. Headed by Johannesson as director and producer, the team created Blindsker that won the "Best Documentary" in the Icelandic Film Awards 2004 and Africa United that won the same prize in 2005.

He was nominated as the best Icelandic Filmmaker in 2005 and 2006 at cultural DV (newspaper) awards and best director in 2005 at the Icelandic Film Awards. Selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2003 and 2004.

Olaf and his team have finished filming Act Normal, a documentary following an English Buddhist monk who decides to disrobe and get married, shot in Iceland and Thailand between 1995-2006. Johannesson is currently working on The Amazing Truth about Queen Raqauela, a feature produced by his own company, Poppoli Pictures, with Nimbus Films (dk) Blueeyes Productions (is). The film tells the story of a naïve, but street smart Filipino ladyboy - a career prostitute who decides to travel to Paris to find love and acceptance, but ends up working at a fish factory in Iceland. After that Olaf is preparing for the Icelandic feature "The Higher Force" in January 2007 along with developing the feature "Diary of a Circledrawer" with Screenwriter Stefan Schaefer for filming in early 2008.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Stefan Reynisson

Personal Quotes

The more films I make the more human I become - although I seem to use films to interrupt emotional processes. My mission is to widen my own understanding of this sarcastic, over populated, shallow yet rich human society we've all been dumped in for the time being.

Whenever I do a film, it has to have the potential to fail miserably, otherwise it's not worth the walk.

I love the "episode" film-language. There is so much you can do. The Sopranos and The Wire are the far best I've seen. Tremendously unique stuff.

Since the big changes to the films during the late 60s and 70s nearly no one has been able to pull what Coppola, Scorcese, Spielberg, Lucas and the rest created. Few are still trying, like PT Anderson, Trier, Tarantino, Figgis and more ... but the search continues.

Films are not a complicated language, it's a child-like language. Yet children bear the most complexity in the simpleness.

I'm not interested in making money for their sake, not having them has taught me how to survive, now i'd like them to execute tons of ideas.