Vala is a film director and a performance maker. She is a director and one of the founders of GERVI Productions (gerviproductions.com) and Vinnslan (vinnslan.com) both companies based in Iceland. Her recent work includes: ÉG/I (short film), DÆTUR (short film), Mamma ætlar að sofna (short film), Hamur (short dance film), ROF (experimental short film) and Strengir (theatre performance).
She studied and worked in New York and London during the years 2002-2012. While living in London (8 years) Vala worked as a director and a performance maker at 11:18 Theatre Company (U.K), which focuses on audio- and installation based performances on trains, as well as being associate artist at Tangled Feet and Bottlefed, award winning companies in the U.K.

Vala is a teacher and the Head of Movement in the Acting Department at the Iceland University of the Arts.

Vala has degrees in performing and performance making from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a diploma in film directing and screenwriting from The Icelandic Film School.

CV:

ÉG/I
Short film about trans person and the freedom to be oneself. 
Directing, screenwriting and producing with Hallfríður Þ. Tryggvadóttir

*Winner* – Grand Jury Honorable Mention for Best International Short at Outfest, 2019
*Winner* – Best Fictional Short at Trans Pride Brighton, 2019
*Winner* – Best Short Film at Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, 2019
Officially selected 2018-19:

RIFF – Reykjavík International Film Festival, Northern Wave International Film Festival, Vilnius International Film Festival, BFI Flare, FiveFilms4Freedom, the world’s widest-reaching LGBTQ+ digital short-film program, held by the British Council and BFIFlare.Vancoucer International Women in Film Festival, Nordische Filmtage Lübeckamong others. The film is currently touring more film festivals in 2020/21

Daughters
Short film about a mother and daughter relationship.
Directing and screenwriting.
Northern Wave International Film Festival 2018,
Open Place International Short Film Festival, Latvia 2019
Toronto Lift-Off Film Festival Online 2019
RVK Feminist Film Festival 2020

Mother will sleep
Short film based on a poem by Davíð Stefánsson.
Directing and screenwriting.
RIFF -Reykjavík International Film Festival 2017
Northern Wave International Film Festival 2017
Cannes – Short Film Corner 2017
Open Place International Short Film Festival 2018 

Skin
Short short film
The short film was selected “the micro short film of the year” at Örvarpið, RÚV 2017
Stockfish Film Festival 2017
Northern Wave International Film Festival, 2017

Rof
Short film.
Directing and screenwriting with María Kjartans.
The film was shot inside a dormant volcano, about 120 meters underground and plays with the concept of man’s ruptured connection to mother earth.

BORNSHORTS Film Festival, Denmark 2014
Signes de Nuit Festival in Lisboa, Portugal 2015

Strengir/Strings
Theatre performance
Directing and performing
Vinnslan, Tjarnarbíó Theatre, 2014

The farmer and the fisherman
Site specific theatre performance
Director and author with theatre group.
11:18 theatre company, City of Culture Celebration, N-Ireland 2013

Meam between times
Site specific theatre performance
Director and author with theatre group.
11.18 theatre company, Greenwich and Docklands International Theatre Festival,
London 2012

This now or neverland
Site specific theatre performance
Sound and installation based performance on trains.
11:18 theatre company, London 2011

Hold me until you break
Theatre performance by Bottlefed
Performing and devising with theatre group.
Touring Europe 2008-2012
*Winner* Best Performance at Sophiensäle at 100°Berlin festival. 2010

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Side specific theatre performance by Tangled Feet
Performing and devising with theatre group.
Tangled Feet, Lyric Hammersmith, touring in England 2010-11
Audience award at SIRF Festival. 2011

Home
Performing and devising with theatre group, Tangled Feet.
Touring England and France 2009-2011

Maddid
Theatre performance
Actor and performance maker.
London, Reykjavík, Spain 2007-8