Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.01.2007, Page 36

_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 01_007_INTERVIEW/FILMS
A pleasant surprise at last fall’s Reykjavík In-
ternational Film Festival was the screening of
Icelandic filmmaker Ísold Uggadóttir’s début
short, Family Reunion
The bilingual flick tells the tale of Katrín, a
young Icelandic artist in New York who trav-
els back home to attend her grandfather’s
70th birthday and faces the task of coming
out to her seemingly square family. It fea-
tures a clever plot, as well as some distinctly
“Icelandic” moments that are far removed
from the traditional tourist/landscape fare. It
has been very favourably received, and was
recently selected to appear at the 2007 Sun-
dance Film Festival. Uggadóttir took the time
to answer some of the Grapevine’s ques-
tions.
Family Reunion is shot in two separate
locations, with New York represented
as a sunny haven for the mild mannered
protagonist, where she revels in being
in love amidst the atmosphere of a bus-
tling city in springtime. Your Reykjavík,
on the other hand, has a gloomy feel to
it. You’ve lived in both places; does the
film represent your views on the cities,
or is the contrast in how they are por-
trayed meant to indicate the feelings of
dread Katrín has for coming out and fac-
ing her family?
It was a very conscious decision to portray
these two places as complete opposites.
The portrayal is not necessarily a true rep-
resentation of New York versus Reykjavík,
but precisely an expression of how our lead
character experiences her own environment.
In order to convey this, we processed the
film for the New York scenes using a pro-
cess called “skip bleach”, which resulted in
a more grainy and grungy look. The colours
turned out a bit more saturated than in the
Icelandic scenes. We also shot handheld in
New York while in Iceland the camera was
often in a fixed position. Iceland was made
to look more boring and traditional, in order
to get in the head of our lead character and
view it through her eyes.
There is a scene where Katrín faces her
excruciatingly dull family in their new
jeep on the way from Keflavík, unre-
markable news blaring from the speak-
ers, surrounded by a bland landscape.
It is extremely funny. I’d think anyone
returning to a mundane life after a pe-
riod of adventure could relate. Is it, and
other parts of Family Reunion, based on
personal experience?
Well, just like any artist, you take moments
that you have lived or heard about and build
upon them. To start with the landscape in
Keflavík is just so incredibly odd; when I was
younger I always felt a bit sorry for the poor
foreigners that were under the impression
that they had landed on the moon, when
they had actually expected this hip and cool
hotspot of the north. I was drawn to creating
an environment to which the lead character
could not relate at all, and have her be very
at odds with everyone around her. But most
of the film is fiction. My father doesn’t ac-
tually know anything about cars, nor does
my mother talk about potential dates. She is
an artist, so we can relate on the struggling
artist front. She is currently selling the DVD
of Family Reunion at her store Kirsuberjatréð,
Vesturgata 4, for her indebted filmmaker
daughter.
Is there a message or a topic that you’re
especially interested in conveying?
I am not sure I ever set out to convey a specif-
ic message. If so, I would hope to have done
it in a subtle way. I don’t really like to tell
people how to be or what to think, unless
they are in grammar school. But if people
take something from the film and perhaps
think about it the day after, then I am happy.
The original purpose of the film was to make
a film. I had wanted to make a film for years,
but never took the full step until now. I did
want to make a bit fun of typical Icelandic
birthday parties, ideas of homophobia, rac-
ism, materialism, etc. – just not in a preachy
way. Perhaps I was inspired by the fact that
Iceland has become the aforementioned hip
and cool hotspot of the north, and wanted
to show foreigners another side of Iceland.
One of the things that surprised me
about the movie is how you managed
to cram a lot of different aspects into a
20-minute short. On one hand it’s quite
comedic, but there is a much wider spec-
trum of emotion involved. Was there
ever an instance where you thought
about expanding the short, perhaps to
further explore some of the sentiment
it evokes?
The strange thing with films is that either
they are “short films” – often defined as
30 minutes and under. Or they are “feature
films” – defined as 90 minutes and over.
There is really nothing in-between. In order
to expand the film I would have had to add
70 minutes to it, and with my limited funding
and resources, it would never have been pos-
sible. But I also really just wanted to make a
short film. I wanted to practice, see if I could
do this, and if I enjoyed it.
There were times when I realised that I
might have material that could potentially
work for a feature film. I have heard these
types of comments at screenings in the past
few months, and some people have encour-
aged me to take the plunge and redo the
short into a feature. I am flattered to hear
these comments, but right now I would like
to make something completely different and
take a break from the Icelandic sing-alongs,
“bread-cakes” and dozens and dozens of ex-
tras. But it is not out of the question that I
revisit the topic in the future.
Being a writer/director, are you more in-
terested in the technical aspects of film-
making, or plain storytelling?
Everything about filmmaking interests me.
I am a complete nerd. I have books on ev-
erything from directing to budgeting to
screenwriting to lighting to editing to cam-
era assisting to film-festival guidance. In my
perfect world, I could try every job on the set
once. But unless I am happy with the story, I
wouldn’t want to direct a film. It’s true what
they say; the only things that really matter in
a film are the script and the acting. Anything
else is just a bonus.
Could you name some of your influenc-
es?
I think everything in my environment uncon-
sciously influences me. But I am conscious of
my appreciation of Susan Bier’s Elske Dig for
Evigt, Mike Leigh’s Secrets and Lies, Lukas
Moodysson’s Tilsammans, Noah Baumbach’s
The Squid and the Whale, Thomas Vinter-
berg’s Festen and Phil Morrison’s Junebug.
These are movies that make me want to
make one too.
Family Reunion comes off as a very DIY
project. Was putting it together much
of a hassle, was it difficult to finance;
would you do it again?
Oh, it was a complete hassle. It’s neverend-
ing. At this point, I’ve probably become ob-
sessive and can’t quit. Getting the film onto
35mm prints has been latest endeavour and
involved many sleepless nights. But I think I
secretly like to be swamped over my head.
It makes me feel like things are happening,
that there is progress. Sleepless nights are re-
ally the story of my life. I seem to be drawn
to them. Knowing me, I will do this all over
again. Many times.
What can you tell us about your next
project?
I believe my next film will also be a short.
This time I hope to have more real funding
and less chaos. Although I do believe that
filmmaking will always involve some sense
of chaos. There is really no way around it.
I promised myself to start shooting the next
project in the year 2007. That is all I will say
for now. Oh, and there will be fewer extras
and no sing-along songs.
Family Reunion was recently selected for
Sundance Film festival, which is essen-
tially a showcase for independent film-
makers. How important do you perceive
the opportunity as being in terms of
your career and the film’s distribution?
Are there many breaks at such a festi-
val? And is there anything in particular
you would like to accomplish by taking
your film to Sundance?
To be quite honest, being selected for Sun-
dance is a dream come true. Although I don’t
think it will “make” the career of a short film-
maker, I believe it can provide one with the
credibility needed to fund upcoming proj-
ects. Sundance will also help with finding
distribution for a short film, but short films
are actually never made as a means to make
money. Their primary function is to act as a
“calling card” of a director or the production
company behind it. By going to Sundance I
hope to get a better understanding of how
this business works, meet interesting people
and promote my film. I’d love to sell it all over
the world.
Is there anything in particular you would
like to accomplish as a filmmaker? And
any specific topics you would like to
tackle?
I think I will always be drawn to topics involv-
ing everyday life. Relationships, aging, hap-
piness and struggles are themes that I see
myself working with. I also like to see the
humorous side to topics involving unhappi-
ness.
Finally, do you see yourself as operating
as a filmmaker in Iceland?
I see myself operating as a filmmaker in Ice-
land, New York and hopefully all over.

Bread Cakes & Heartbreaks
Text by Haukur Magnússon Photo by Skari