Based on The Juniper Tree (1812) by the Brothers Grimm, this film directed by Nietzchka Keene reimagines the fairy tale as a medieval fantasy. The Juniper Tree follows sisters Margit, played by Björk, and Katla, who escape from their village after their mother was burned for practicing witchcraft. In the wild, they encounter a handsome widower and his son. The four try to live as a family, but Katla’s penchant for sorcery soon puts everyone’s existence to the test. Keene depicts the vast emptiness of the wild Icelandic landscape in black and white to express the characters’ forbidding isolation and desolation. The Juniper Tree was Keene’s directorial debut and Björk’s first acting role before she achieved international stardom as a musician.

M+ Cinema will present a 4K restoration of this film.

Nietzchka Keene (b. 1952, United States) produced short films Friends (1977), Still (1978), and Hinterland (1983) while she was pursuing a master's degree in film production at University of California at Los Angeles. She was also a research assistant in Old Icelandic language and linguistics. Keene began directing The Juniper Tree in 1986 and completed it in 1989 before its release at Sundance Film Festival in 1990. Her second feature film Heroine of Hell (1996) was released on television in the United States on channel Public Broadcasting Service. She taught filmmaking and editing at University of Wisconsin-Madison until her death in 2004. Her third feature film Barefoot to Jerusalem was released in 2008.