The Juniper Tree

During the final years of the Middle Ages, a young woman is accused of witchcraft and burned. The woman's daughters, Margit (Björk Guðmundsdóttir) and Katla (Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir) make their escape to the mountains, where they find shelter in the house of a widowed farmer called Jóhann (Valdimar Örn Flygenring) and his son Jónas (Geirlaug Sunna Þormar). Katla tries to seduce Jóhann, but his son becomes suspicious of her being a witch and he grows to hate her, despite his blossoming friendship with Margit. Meanwhile, Margit starts to have visions of her mother and to finding shelter in a fantasy world.

Even though the story is loosely based on the tale 'The Juniper Tree', from the Grimm brothers, the director focuses on a text from T. S. Eliot to speak about a comeback to God, about a longing for joy in the wake of the roughness of death and the hope of rebirth.

'The Juniper Tree' was released on 1990 but it remained unpublished in Spain and it was the first acting performance in cinema for the artist Bjork. The movie remained almost invisible for thirty years, but it has undergone a restoration in 4K by the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research and the Film Foundation, with the participation of the George Lucas Family Foundation.