Hlynur Pálmason (born 30 September 1984; Hornafjörður) is an Icelandic film director, screenwriter and artist. Hlynur Pálmason was born in 1984 in Höfn in Hornafjörður, Iceland. He studied film at the National Film School of Denmark in Copenhagen, from which he graduated in 2013. He lived in Denmark for 10 years before returning to Höfn, a town on Hornafjörður fjord. He is also an artist.

Pálmason has said that he is more interested in "narrative style and the flow of films" than in the actual storyline. His debut feature film Winter Brothers (Vinterbrødre), shot in Denmark, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in 2017. He subsequently received the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film and the Robert Award for Best Danish Film, and Pálmason also received the Robert Award for Best Director. His second feature film A White, White Day (Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur) was shot in Iceland, and many of those he worked with on Winter Brothers were also involved in this film, including the actor, German cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff [de], editor Julius Krebs Damsbo and sound designer Lars Halvorsen. He had previously collaborated with Icelandic actor Ingvar Sigurðsson on a short film made for graduation, The Artist, in 2013. A White, White Day was selected for screening in the Critics' Week section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was chosen as Iceland's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. In 2022 he continued with the film Godland (Vanskabte Land), which was shown at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as Denmark's 2022 submission for the Nordic Council Film Prize. The film, its director and several actors were nominated for numerous awards and won a number of them, including the Gold Hugo for Best Feature Film at the Chicago International Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the Riga International Film Festival in Latvia.