Website, Trailer and Scene For Aron Gauder's Egill!

Glory! For those new to Twitch or short of memory Aron Gauder is a name you should remember for one reason. This is the man who directed stellar Hungarian animated feature The District! (Nyocker) - and WHY has this not had an English-friendly release anywhere in the world yet!?! - as well as providing the digital aniamtion and effects for Taxidermia. Which is two reasons, really, but The District is why I'd hope the name stands out. Back in October of 2005 we got word that Gauder was re-teaming with producer Erik Novak for his next feature, based on the life of legendary - and legendarily mad - Icelandic poet Egill Skallagrimmson. Here's the synopsis we posted at the time:

"Egill, the poet, is shipwrecked near the British shores, and comes before Eirik Bloodaxe, King of Northumbria, only to face jail and a death sentence. The night before his execution, Egill decides to write an ode to the king in the hope of a royal pardon. As he writes, his memories start to appear before us. We see his early years on Iceland, we learn about his innate shape-shifting ability, and his overly violent nature combined with a true lyric talent. Egill's first voyage to Norway ends abruptly at a revel where Egill happens to kill a retainer of the young King Eirik. Queen Gunnhildur swears to take revenge. Egill now has to flee from Norway with his friend Arinbjorn, and goes marauding the Slavic shores. He meets and marries Asgerd, whose estate has been taken by Onund. Egill returns to Norway to claim Asgerd's dowry, transforms into a bear, kills Onund, slays the king's son, sets up a curse-pole facing Eirik's realm, and returns to Iceland. In response, the rampaging Gunnhildur casts a spell of restlessness over Egill. Soon afterwards, the king is ousted from the throne by his brother Hakon and flees to Northumbria with Gunnhildur. Egill also sets out for Britain to trade, but he can't avoid an enormous seastorm... and then the cock crows. Egill wakes up to be taken before the king. After he recites the poem he composed overnight, Eirik Bloodaxe relents, and releases him. Vengeful Gunnhildur sends her men to kill the poet outside of the gates. Egill defies the killers - but not his fate - and falls at the hands of the queen's hitmen."

The film's official website has recently been given a complete overhaul and includes a lengthy scene from the film and a new trailer - you MUST have the latest verion of Flash installed for this to work - now streaming online. That this can look so incredibly different from The District while simultaneously being very obviously the work of the same man is a marvelous thing to me. There's just nobody else out there quite like Gauder.

Egill Website.