Hurt spoke fondly of the film saying “I often say, with something like 'The Elephant Man,' had it been an American series for television, where you have to sign your life away for seven years...well, maybe I would never have made ‘Sailcloth.
I thought it was a terrific script and the whole thing was really enjoyable.” Aðalsteins’ directorial feature debut, End of Sentence (2019), a father-and-son road movie, starring Oscar nominee John Hawkes (Winter's Bones, The Sessions) and Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) had its worldwide release in 2019.
The film received positive reviews, with Guy Lodge from Variety describing it as a “A deliberate, gentle, genuinely caring debut feature from Icelandic director Elfar Adalsteins... [with] John Hawkes and Logan Lerman, both on very fine form” while Stephen Dalton from The Hollywood Reporter said “End of Sentence is a familiar story at heart, but beautifully observed, sensitively played and smart enough to wrong-foot audience expectations whenever the plot gets too comfortable.”[3][4] The film currently has a score of 91 on Rotten Tomatoes.
[5] In Summerlight... and Then Comes the Night (2022), Aðalsteins directed an all Icelandic ensemble cast including Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Trapped, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Heida Reed (Poldark) and Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir (True Detective, A White, White Day), from his own screenplay adaptation of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s celebrated novel, which received the Icelandic Literary Awards in 2006.
As a producer, Aðalsteins has worked on a wide range of independent films, including Mamma Gógó (2010), What Maisie Knew (2012) and the award winning Icelandic documentary The Home Game (2023).