Changes

Sigurbjörn is autistic and Guðjón and Steinþór have Downs Syndrome. When we meet them they live together in the Tjaldanes Institution, a small institution in the countryside just outside Reykjavik. There they have led a peaceful, albeit somewhat isolated, life for decades. In 2004 the authorities make the decision to close down the institution, since the houses are old and maintenance is costly.

And thus a new life awaits the three friends. Two of them move to newly built apartments in a suburb of Reykjavik and one to a group-home in Hafnarfjörður, where they live in community with other citizens. The filmmakers followed their progress for three years, capturing them in their daily life in their former home, the excitement
when they move and how they manage to take on the challenges of a new life. The story is told without a voice-over narrator and is allowed to come alive through the actions and reactions of the protagonists, capturing their joy and excitement when they relish their newly gained independence, where they’re allowed to make their own decisions in their everyday life for the first time.