Marteinn Thorsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland and is a dual citizen of Iceland and Canada.
Marteinn first wanted to be a filmmaker at the age of 6 after watching the Japanese animated feature, Alakazam The Great. His uncle owned and ran an old movie theatre (Hafnarbíó) that operated in an army barrack from World War II. Both his grandfather and mother worked there.
Around then he started making films, using a Super 8mm camera. By the time reached the age of 17, he had his first gig in the advertising business, as a stills photographer on a commercial film shoot.
In college he continued by making short horror flicks, while also working in television and on feature films. Two of his early films sold to Icelandic Television: Toy Soldiers to private broadcaster Channel 2 and Bogomil Font: The Crooner Behind The Curtain to state broadcaster RUV.
He graduated from Ryerson University, in Toronto, Ontario, with a B.F.A. degree in Film Studies and a 65-minute film noir, Diary of an Assassin in hand. Diary of an Assassin was selected for a premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival but Marteinn could not afford to strike a print, so he was unable to screen the film in the festival.
Since then, Marteinn has written, directed and produced television dramas, comedies, documentaries & variety shows. He has helmed a series of commercials, and music videos. He has won 5 PROMAX Awards for promotional spots he created in Toronto, Ontario for Astral Media/TMN, for Showcase, and for YTV and City-TV. In 2006 he won the Icelandic Edda Award for best Television program, for the current affairs show Kompás (for broadcaster CHANNEL 2).
In 2004 Marteinn co-wrote and co-directed with Jeff Renfroe the feature One Point O (a.k.a. 1.0, a.k.a. Paranoia: 1.0) starring Jeremy Sisto, Deborah Kara Unger, Udo Kier and Lance Henriksen. One Point O was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and has subsequently sold to more than 43 countries worldwide and won awards in places around the globe. Variety Magazine then put Marteinn on its 10 Directors To Watch List.
He’s currently editing his second feature Rokland (Stormland), which is produced by Snorri Thorisson at Pegasus Pictures. Along with Mr. Thorisson, he´s developing When Falcons Fly, a Canada-Iceland co-production, about a rag-tag underdog team of 2nd generation Icelandic immigrants in Winnipeg, Canada, who go on to win the first Olympic gold in Hockey in 1920.
He recently formed his own production company, Tenderlee Motion Pictures Company, which all ready has acquired the rights to the live-action/animated feature based on Hugleikur Dagsson’s “Gardarsholmi” (The Saga Island), the novel “Bankster” by Gudmundur Oskarsson, the novel “Skaparinn” (The Creator) by Gudrun Eva Minervudottir and an untitled horror film based on a story by Steinar Bragi and an original thriller, Fljótin (The Rivers) by Björn Haukur Pálsson.
In the summer of 2010 he shot a short entitled Permille (Prómill) which was selected for the Reykjavik International Film Festival that same year. The 14-minute short was shot using the new DSLR cameras from Canon, which Marteinn believes will revolutionize independent filmmaking. Marteinn is convinced that digital tehcnology will enable independent filmmakers to become truly independent. The picture was shot with a crew of 3, with 2 people handling post-production.
Permille is the basis for a no-budget feature (working title is Blackout) on an alcoholic (Rokland star, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) who decides to go into rehab but first he must go on a 48-hour bender. Blackout will be shot in January 2011, using the Canon 5D, with veteran DP Besti Björgúlfsson (Jar City) behind the lens.
Marteinn will also be teaching Screenwriting and Directing at the Icelandic Film School in 2010-2011.