Undraborn: Extraordinary Child consists of an exhibit of photographs, a book of 75 photographs by Mary Ellen Mark, with 14 photographs by Ivar Brynjólfsson, paintings and drawings by the children from Öskjuhlíðarskóli and Safamýrarskóli, and Martin Bell's film Alexander.

In late August 2005, Einar Ingolfsson, photo editor of the Morgunblaðið newspapers in Reykjavik, Iceland, assigned Mary Ellen Mark four photo stories. Mark insisted on shooting one of the stories at a school for disabled children, Öskjuhlíðarskóli. It was there, in a swimming pool, that Mark first met Alexander. They instantly hit it off.

Later that same day Mark went to the showroom of fashion designer Steinunn. Steinunn recognized Mark and asked what she was doing in Reykjavik. Mark told her she had just photographed at Öskjuhlíðarskóli, and had met an extraordinary 11 year old boy.

Steinunn asked what the boy’s name was.

Mark said, "Alexander."

Steinunn said, "Alexander is my son."

And that is how the project Extraordinary Child was started. Mark's photographs ran in the Morgunblaðið newspaper and received a strong reaction from their readers. The director of the National Museum of Iceland, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir, called Mark and asked if she would return to Iceland and photograph their disabled children for the Museum. Martin Bell was also comissioned to make a short film.

ALEXANDER

CAST & PRODUCTION CREDITS