The Norse Women's Saga Series
Directed & Animated by G. Scott MacLeod
Produced by MacLeod 9 Productions
PROMO VIDEO & SYNOPSIS
SYNOPSIS: The Norse Women's Sagas is a three-act historical fiction (hybrid animation & live action) independent series that is being directed by G. Scott MacLeod and produced by MacLeod 9 Productions in collaboration with the Office national du film du Canada/National Film Board of Canada on the ACIC-FAP Filmmakers Assistance Program (post production).
The three act animated series is MacLeod’s 2nd animated-live action film series and is rooted in his Hiberno-Norse ancestry from the Norse sagas.
The Norse Womens’ Saga Series is told from a woman’s perspective and explores Norse women via the sagas, history, archaeology and migration patterns of the Vikings, in order to better understand their lived experiences and history. Studying and sharing their stories is an opportunity to increase awareness of the damaging impacts of war, exile, slavery, religious persecution, famine and the environment, as well as the contributions these women made to the greater world narrative of women as providers and leaders in society.
The three episodes and acts, The Indigo Iona Saga and the Settlement of Iceland (In production - release 2026) https://www.theindigoionasaga.com, Expedition Greenland - Solveig’s Strength and Auðr’s Prosperity (2023) https://macleod9.com/expeditiongreenland/public/ and First Contact (2016) http://www.firstcontactthefilm.com are inspired by the Saga of the Icelanders, Saga of Erik the Red, Saga of the Greenlanders and Vinland Saga and highlights the Norse expansion west across the north Atlantic and the retelling of key events in these sagas from key and fictional women characters in the Sagas.
Universe - “Viking” was originally an occupation, not an ethnicity. It referred to the ambitious young Norse people who left home to amass wealth, reputation, land and life experience. In this spirit, adventurers from colonies in Iceland and Greenland the Norse sailed west and discovered a place they’ve named Vínland.
Films
Episode 1: The Indigo Iona Saga
Episode 1 is a story of Norse women and their settlement of Iceland. The ambitious Queen Hertha Ljótólfsdóttir leaves Norway with her fleet to the Norse colonies of Shetland and Orkney Islands to take Celtic slaves to help claim and settle Iceland away from the battling Norwegian Kings. On Queen Hertha’s journey she confronts the warlord Ketill, King of the Isles and discovers his beautiful slave girl Iona. Both will influence the outcome of Hertha’s settlement plans in Iceland.
Episode 2: Expedition Greenland
Episode 2 is a second generation story on Solveig Thorsteindottir (Iona’s daughter) and Auðr’s (Hertha's daughter) and their emigration from Iceland to Erik the Red’s Eastern settlement in Brattahlíð Greenland, during which time Auðr’s embarks on the walrus ivory trade in Greenland to establish a European trade and navigate a love triangle between she, Solveig and the charismatic and lost Óttar. They all are destined for other shores and are a part of the group of first Norse Greenlanders who will go on to discover Vinland (Newfoundland).
Episode 3: First Contact
Episode 3 begins from the west, a proto-Beothuk hunting party. From the east, an expedition of Norse Greenlanders looking for farmland. At the turn of the first millennium on the island now called Newfoundland, native North Americans and Europeans chance upon each other for the first time. Their meeting goes smoothly at first, but turns hostile within the year due to misunderstood intentions. When a chance to return to good relations presents itself, both sides must weigh the risks. Two women, Bobodish of the Genoet band and Guðríð Þorbjarnardóttir (Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir), tell the story of this short-lived contact from perspectives that are sometimes contradictory, sometimes converging.
Novels
Episode 1: The Indigo Iona Saga
Episode 2: Expedition Greenland
Creator
G. Scott MacLeod
photo credit: Philipe Robbins
G. Scott MacLeod (Writer, Director & Animator)
Engaging his lifelong interest in history, with support from the National Film Board of Canada’s Filmmaker Assistance Program in 2009 MacLeod released 'After the war with Hannelore - A Berliner War Child’s Testimony from 1945 to 1989' The 22-minute documentary had several high-profile screenings, including at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois and Berlin’s Arsenal 2 Institut für Film und Videokunst and One World Berlin Film Festival.
With funding from Conseil des arts et des lettres Québec, Canada Council for the Arts, and Aide au cinéma indépendant (ACIC) at the National Film Board of Canada, MacLeod produced and directed four short animated films: The Abenaki, People of the Dawn (2013), The Saga of Murdo MacLeod and his first contact with the Abenaki (2012), The Irishman, Child of the Gael (2014), and The French Canadian (2015) — that make up 'The Water of Life' series, a collaboration between MacLeod and internationally celebrated storyteller and writer Mike Burns, these deeply moving untold histories of Canada tell the tales of personal struggle and survival by the Abenaki, Scottish, Irish and French.
These four films have since been edited together as a feature animated film The Water of Life (2015), which was considered for Cannes 2016 and presented at the Holland Animation Film Festival Features Extra in Utrecht, The Netherlands and Les rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, Montreal, Canada. It was distributed on Amazon Prime for the year of 2017 through MUSE Entertainment. The films are distributed by educational providers online and at LEARN Quebec.
His documentary Dans l'Griff - In Griffintown (2013) about the French community of Montreal's Griffintown neighborhood won the 2014 Oral History Award of Excellence from Concordia University and along with his other thesis research this project was featured at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal from 2015 – 2016
In 2017, in collaboration with the NFB, he directed 21 short films and created an online tour entitled The Death and Life of Griffintown: 21 Stories. In 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2023 he received a number of grants to attend the SIM residency in Reykjavik Iceland to develop and work on The Norse Womens’ Saga Series, his second animated film and graphic novel series. He is currently finishing his four-part series, Griffintown – A People’s History from Settlement to Industrialization and Gentrification. He has produced, directed and animated 11 documentaries and animated films in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada
Education
“Over my 30 year career as a visual artist, musician and filmmaker, I have come to believe that it is my responsibility to use my art as a vehicle for positive change and education.”
-- G. Scott MacLeod
Quotes
I can’t imagine how I’ve managed to go all these years without knowing about G. Scott MacLeod. Maybe that he’s 32 years younger than me may have something to do with it, but that’s really no excuse. Because he is such an extraordinary multi-talented artist, putting all his skills to the service of worthy social causes. "First Contact" is an outstanding film, which I hope have received the recognition it deserves.
Film Director - "No More Hiroshiman", "Return to Dresden"
It was a beautiful film. The sound and images were amazingly coordinated, giving increased depth to both, and the marvel each side experienced at the view of each other could really be felt.
Swedish–Canadian archaeologist specialising in the Norse colonisation of North America.
Media
Book a Presentation
With a wealth of experience as an art and history educator, The Norse Women's Saga Series director G. Scott MacLeod offers workshops, lectures and before-and-after screening Question and Answer sessions. Please use the Contact links to send a request or inquiry.
