Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.02.2010, Blaðsíða 28

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 02 — 2010
28
upcoming at Kinó Klúbbur: The coming months will see a lot of activity from the ranks of Kino Klúbbur, with numerous screenings taking place at various locations around town.
The programme includes the works of Japanese American filmmaker Tatsu Aoki, a 16mm shorts program and pieces from video artist Jennifer Reeder, including her infamous superhero
series, White Trash Girl. Point yr. clicker to www.kinoklubbur.com for updates - and go befriend the club on Facebook, too.
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Film | Interview
Icelanders like to brag about per capita re-
cords. Most published books in the world,
most coffee consumed, highest suicide
rates, rah rah rah... Icelanders probably
watch more movies per capita than most
nations out there, too, but they still have
a surprisingly limited film culture. Our
movie theatres mainly like to screen re-
gurgitated Hollywood pap (you’ll often
find the same Rob Schneider abortion
screening simultaneously at four of
Reykjavík’s six theatres SIMULTANE-
OUSLY), and there is not one specialized
cinéphile theatre operating.
Still, there is hope, and it is embodied
in the likes of artist/filmmaking enthusi-
ast Rebecca Moran, who screens obscure
gems and lesser-known masterpieces at
the nomadic Kino Klúbbur film club ev-
ery two weeks. Since 2009, Rebecca has
been introducing Reykjavík’s denizens to
documentaries, animated films, person-
al narrative and experimental films, her
only motive: “To make these little guys
accessible, because they are the ones that
give film a fresh voice.”
“It’s technically called a microcin-
ema,” she says of Kino Klúbbur, “which
is basically a showcase for small gauge
filmmakers who operate similar to a one-
man band. They are THE makers of the
film, from concept, to shooting and edit-
ing. The films are created with a limited
budget, occasionally a small crew, and
generally shot on either Super 8, 16mm,
or video.
It's miles away from industry and
nearly impossible for an individual to get
their hands or eyes on this type of film.
Mostly because they are often distributed
by the filmmakers themselves or specific
companies (Canyon Cinema or Light
Cone to name a few). That’s where Kino
Klúbbur comes in...”
Have you run similar clubs before?
I spent a lot of time in the experimental
film department during my studies at
the Art Institute of Chicago, and have
been immersed in that scene since the
late nineties. After moving to Holland, I
was invited to program monthly screen-
ings at WORM, an experimental venue
for film and music in Rotterdam. Then I
moved to Iceland, followed by a few years
of silence until I finally rolled up my
sleeves and created Kino Klúbbur.
You've been showing at Bakkus pretty
regularly this winter, but you've also been
known to screen in different venues. Is
there a preferred Reykjavík venue where
you like to screen films, or do they each
have an atmosphere and culture?
Kino Klúbbur prefers to remain home-
less, and benefit from the different atmo-
sphere of each location, not to mention
the varying mailing lists. Bakkus is the
perfect space for screening documenta-
ries and films with a beer in hand, not
to mention a great projection setup and
proper sound. Most recently added is the
Reykjavik Art Museum, who generously
offered their screening room during the
hip late night Thursdays. It is ideal for
films that need a bit more concentra-
tion to delve in deep and sip a coffee in
between. My all time favourite venue on
this entire island is the Volcano Muse-
um. A Red painted building, an intimate
screening room, and loads of 16mm wis-
dom. Kino Klúbbur hopes to incorporate
it off hours in the upcoming summer
months.
Is there a running theme or thread in
what's been on offer at KK, or is it just an
assortment of good stuff?
I sat down one day, picked out a few of
my favourite filmmakers that I’ve en-
countered in the last ten years, and sent
out emails. So the connecting thread
at the moment is my own nomadic his-
tory, and sheer luck in meeting many
quirky filmmakers along the way. Over
the years, they have all won some type of
award, or screened in notable venues and
museums, but Kino Klúbbur loves them
for the fact they never gave up at honing
their craft.
What do you think of the local film cul-
ture? Where does it stand in comparison
to other places you know?
It’s an impressively busy and productive
film industry here. I have always held
complete respect for Icelandic film, and
the perseverance of local filmmakers.
Kino Klúbbur hopes to entertain and
inspire the local scene with another per-
spective, another way of doing things.
What does the future hold for Kínó Klúb-
bur? What are some of your plans for the
next year or so?
Kino Klúbbur plans to forge ahead with
monthly screenings. In addition, to in-
troduce film workshops in the realm of
"image-making". That is basic 16mm
film techniques; shooting, editing, hand
processing and manipulations of the film
itself. Simultaneously providing a venue
for the works created. So far, the work-
shop has generated a lot of interest, and
a few dedicated filmmaker friends are
helping out to make it a reality... but it’s
a long road ahead to allocate the funding.
What could be better in a recession, film-
makers getting their hands right down
in it, and coming up with unique reels of
film? It is the essence of what Kino Klúb-
bur is all about.
We're pretty much lacking an under-
ground/alt. cinema, aren't we? I mean,
Regnboginn could be so great if they were
run and organised a little bit differently...
Honestly, I blame Hollywood film for
spreading so much disease and so far.
Except when one is really in the mood for
3d or brain-dead entertainment, which
happens too. Besides that, Green Light
is doing a fine job to bring in the bigger
budget independent films. I tip my cow-
boy hat off to them.
Making Little Guys Accessible In A Small Country
Kino Klúbbur’s Rebecca Moran has a mission
HAuKuR S MAGnúSSOn
JuLIA STAPLES
RAFSKInnA
FOunD BY RAFSKInnA
Whether an art form in its own right or
just a too costly commercial, the music
video has today lost its pivotal status
as a major marketing tool in the music
business. The 80s heydays initiated
by MTV, the world’s first music video
channel launched in 1981, are far
behind and the best treasured music
videos of today are often well hidden
somewhere deep inside the YouTube
jungle. At the same time, MTV is too
busy trying to come up with a new
twist on the same “horny kids living
together in a tight dwelling” reality
program to bother.
Just as in the case of the first
music video shown on MTV on August
1, 1981, Video Killed The Radio Star
by the Buggles, the first music video
made in Iceland, Myndbandið by Sonus
Futurae, was a statement in itself, one
that spoke of a new era in music and
technology.

Made up of three guys still in their
teens, Sonus Futurae was one of
Iceland’s very first synth-pop bands.
Not only was the name of the band
meant to sound futuristic but the
title and the lyrics to the video's song
also sounded prophetic, almost like a
manifesto for a new era. Simply titled
Myndbandið (“The Music Video”) the
song’s chorus stated that “the music
video has taken over” and hinted at
that the band or rather its novelty
synth-pop or maybe just the invention
of the music video was nothing less
than a revolution on a par with the
advent of microcomputers (“Merkilegt
hvað margir halda að band þetta sé
bölvaldur/skiljiði ekki að byltingin er
bylting á við örtölvur?”).
The National Broadcasting
Company of Iceland (RÚV) had since
its televised inauguration in 1966
hosted various programs that included
studio performances by some of
Iceland’s most prominent bands, and
had since the late 70s aired a weekly
music program called Skonrokk,
dedicated to the latest and the most
stylish music videos from the UK and
the US. Sonus Futurae’s Myndbandið
became the first “independently made”
music video—made outside the studios
and without the equipment of RÚV—to
be aired on the show. Jón Gústafsson,
one of the three members of the
band, actually became a presenter
of teenage music shows at RÚV in
the 80s before making a career as
a filmmaker. Jón recalls how their
publisher and former singer with hippie
band Flowers became a key figure in
the making of the video:
“Our publisher, Jónas R. Jónasson,
had just moved from LA and didn’t
think it was much of a deal to make
a proper music video. He rented the
best equipment on the market for us
(U-matic low-band) and directed the
video himself. RÚV wouldn’t broadcast
the video and one of the reasons they
gave was technical—that our U-matic
low band was below their standards.
Jónas wouldn’t budge and refused to
leave the premises of RÚV until they
accepted the video.”
The music video was aired on
the aforementioned music program
Skonrokk on December 3, 1982. In the
same month, Sonus Futurae released
their debut album, Þeir sletta skyrinu
sem eiga það (“Those cast the skyr
that have it”—both the cover and
the title a certain homage to Helgi
Hóseasson, Iceland’s most famous
protestor). Another reason RÚV gave
for their reluctance to air an Icelandic
video made outside their premises was
the apparent “danger” that it would
give a bad example and result in a
flood of independently made music
videos all demanding to be aired at
once. Those worries were obviously
well founded, since only three years
later the amount of Icelandic videos
was such that the country’s most
beloved and prolific band, Stuðmenn,
made seven music videos in the year
1985 alone, to name an example.
While Sonus Futurae’s Myndbandið
is even more lost in the dim dungeon of
RÚV’s archives than it is in YouTube’s
jungle, most of those videos made by
Stuðmenn in 1985 can be viewed on
YouTube. Our recommendation has
to be this “camel-pop” track with its
accompanied mashup of a kitschy/
po-mo blue-screened video that cites
with just as much liberty the pop-art
of Erró as it does haphazardly selected
oriental imagery only few months
before Stuðmenn became only the
second Western pop-band (after
WHAM! made it big) to play China.
Stuðmenn – Ég vildi að ég væri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
fUrt33niRA
Film | Rafskinna #1
“THE MUSIC VIDEO IS HERE TO STAY”