In the documentary film The Importance of Being Icelandic, the filmmaker Jon Gustafsson

Jon Gustafsson

Jon Gustafsson is an Iceland born film director. Best known for directing the Canadian documentary film Wrath of Gods, starring Gerard Butler, Wendy Ord, Sarah Polley, Paul Stephens and Sturla Gunnarsson. He grew up in Iceland where he started his career as a television performer before studying...

 (born in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 and living in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

) traces the steps of three Icelandic Canadians on a different quest of discovering their Icelandic heritage by going to Iceland. In addition to their time in Iceland, he returns with them to Canada and captures their reactions of the Islendingadagurinn celebrated each year at Gimli

Gimli, Manitoba

Gimli is a a rural municipality located in the Interlake region of south-central Manitoba, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. It is about north of the provincial capital Winnipeg...

. The contrasts in perspective between his viewpoint on Canadian culture and that of three Icelandic-Canadians on a quest for their ancestral heritage is at the centre of the documentary.