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Sigurjón Sighvatsson
Sigurjón Sighvatsson
Born	15 June 1952 (age 72); Reykjavík, Iceland
Other names	Joni Sighvatsson
Education	AFI Conservatory
Occupation(s)	Film producer, businessman

Sigurjón "Joni" Sighvatsson (born 15 June 1952) is an Icelandic Hollywood film producer and businessman.

Sighvatsson, a veteran producer with over 50 feature films, television series, and documentaries to his credit, is the principal of Palomar Pictures, an independent production company, as well as chairman of Scandinavian film distributor/producer Scanbox Emntertainment.

Sigurjón has worked with some of the most successful filmmakers in the industry, including David Lynch, Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Sheridan, Julian Schnabel and multiple Academy Award nominees and winners. Among his films are The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Brothers, Z for Zachariah and Killer Elite, as well as classics such as Wild at Heart, Arlington Road and Basquiat.

Sigurjón also continues to be a significant force in the world of art films. After having paved the way for visual artists moving into feature films with Schnabel's highly acclaimed Basquiat, Sigurjón has also produced the groundbreaking Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, as well as the controversial Destricted, a collection of short films by some of the world's leading artists focusing on the concept of pornography.

Career

Before coming to the United States, Sigurjón enjoyed a successful career as a musician in his native Iceland, founding the country's first recording studio at the age of 21. After finishing a B.A. in Literature from the University of Iceland, Sighvatsson came to Los Angeles on a Fulbright Scholarship to earn his MFA in the Graduate Film Studies program at USC. He then was invited to and joined the Director's Program at the American Film Institute.

In 1986, Sigurjón co-founded Propaganda Films, which quickly became the leading music video and commercial production company in the world before expanding into feature films with Red Rock West, Kalifornia, and David Lynch's Wild At Heart which won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. At Propaganda, Sighvatsson launched the careers of such directors as David Fincher, Michael Bay, and Spike Jonze.

Sigurjón has also been involved with numerous television shows, including the Emmy-nominated "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City," the innovative cult classic "Twin Peaks," the triple ACE Award-winning anthology series "Fallen Angels," the quadruple ACE-winning "Heat Wave," as well as the popular original "Beverly Hills 90210". In 1995, Sigurjón became the founding president of Lakeshore Entertainment, where he produced or executive produced films such as Polish Wedding, 200 Cigarettes and Arlington Road.

In 1999, Sigurjón became the controlling shareholder in Palomar Pictures, another pioneer in music videos and television commercials and cultivated a new generation of top directors including Joseph Kahn, Gary McKendry and Marcos Siega. In 2006 Sigurjón acquired Scanbox Entertainment, a leading Scandinavian film distributor as well as heritage clothing company 66 North in Iceland, which he built into an award winning international outdoor brand.

Sigurjón has served in various industry and civic organizations including, as president of the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, and as a board member of the AICP (Association of Independent Commercial Producers), The American-Scandinavian Foundation, the ACLU of Southern California, the Ocean Park Community Center, and currently serves on the Hammer Museum Board of Overseers. Sigurjón is also the Honorary Consul General for Iceland in Southern California.

Producer selected filmography

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year	Film	Credit	Notes
1985	Hard Rock Zombies	Associate producer
1985	American Drive-In	Associate producer
1987	Aria	Associate producer
1987	P.I. Private Investigations
1988	The Blue Iguana
1989	Kill Me Again
1989	Fear, Anxiety & Depression
1990	Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will?
	Wild at Heart
	Rust
1992	Ruby
	A Stranger Among Us
	Candyman
1993	Behind Schedule	Associate producer
	Red Rock West
	Kalifornia
	Dream Lover
1994	Final Combination	Executive producer
	Gospel According to Harry	Executive producer
	A Pig's Tale	Executive producer	Direct-to-video
	S.F.W.	Executive producer
1995	Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
	Canadian Bacon	Executive producer
	Lord of Illusions	Executive producer
1996	Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy	Executive producer
	Basquiat
	Box of Moonlight	Executive producer
1997	Going All the Way
	'Til There Was You	Executive producer
	The Real Blonde	Executive producer
	A Thousand Acres
1998	Polish Wedding	Executive producer
	Homegrown	Executive producer
	Phoenix	Executive producer
1999	200 Cigarettes	Executive producer
1999	Arlington Road	Executive producer
2000	Passion of Mind	Executive producer
2000	The Weight of Water
2002	K-19: The Widowmaker
2005	Pretty Persuasion	Executive producer
2005	A Little Trip to Heaven
2006	Destricted	Executive producer
2006	The Last Winter	Executive producer
2009	Valhalla Rising	Executive producer
	The Good Heart	Executive producer
	Brothers
2011	Killer Elite
2013	The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared	Executive producer
2015	Z for Zachariah
2016	I.T.	Co-producer
2017	Wind River	Executive producer
2017	I Remember You
2018	Isabelle	Executive producer
2019	End of Sentence

Production manager

Year	Film	Role
1984	Nickel Mountain	Post-production supervisor

Thanks

Year	Film	Role
2013	Parkland	The producers wish to thank

Television

Year	Title	Credit	Notes
1987	Richard Marx Live	Executive producer	Television special
1990	Heat Wave	Executive producer	Television film
1990	Industrial Symphony No. 1	Executive producer	Television film
1990	Salute Your Shorts	Executive producer	Television pilot
1990−91	Beverly Hills, 90210
1991	Coca-Cola Pop Music Backstage Pass to Summer	Co-executive producer	Television special
1992	Memphis	Executive producer	Television film
1993	Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell	Executive producer	Documentary
1993	Tales of the City	Executive producer