Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2010, Side 34

Finally a post-crash documentary with a positive spin!
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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2010
Finding the silver lining around the
collapse of Iceland’s economy can
seem like a daunting task. However,
some are taking the time to explore
the alternatives and finding that a
little good can come of this, par-
ticularly in the areas of agriculture,
energy and conservation. These
positive after-effects are being ex-
plored by a pair of Brits in the new
documentary ‘Future Of Hope’. After
educating themselves extensively
on Iceland’s situation and future op-
tions, director Henry Bateman and
producer Heather Millard picked
up and relocated to Iceland, deter-
mined to make their optimistic film
a reality. The Grapevine spoke to
Heather about the movie and what
hope the future holds.
How did the project come about?
Henry and I were reading articles in the
UK about the crash in Iceland. In Janu-
ary 2009 we came across the first article
that was positive, saying that Icelanders
always bounce back. They have a harsh
climate to live in, they’ve had it harder
in the past, with various corruptions
and plagues and they will bounce back
again. We thought there was something
in that, so we came out to Iceland for
five days in March 2009 on a research
trip.
We brought the best camera avail-
able to us with the hopes that we would
find a story and that what we filmed we
would be able to use in the film. We met
lots and lots of people, from ex-bankers
to everyday people trying to survive.
We came back to England and we cut
a short trailer. We talked about coming
out to Iceland for a week every month
throughout the summer, from April on-
wards, and we thought that wouldn’t do
it justice.
Both of us had read articles and seen
documentaries about Iceland and they
focused on a very stereotypical view,
such as fishing, believing in elves and
the Viking aspect. We wanted to give a
much fairer representation of Iceland
and make a film that Icelanders could
be proud of. So we spent the next few
months preparing and calling in people
in Iceland, researching. We bought a
van in the UK and we hired a full HD kit.
Then we took the ferry to France, drove
to Denmark, took the ferry to the Faroe
Islands before we continued to Iceland
and ended up on the other side of the
island. That’s where it began in June
2009.
We’ve been around the country at
least eight times. We have characters
in the movie that are from Akureyri and
from the east as well as from Reykja-
vík, so we already give a much broader
representation of Iceland in terms of
where we’ve been to and what we’ve
filmed. It was very important to us not
to give a narrow view of Iceland. It be-
gan with the idea to see, post-financial
crash, how Icelanders are coping and
it’s turned into being about rebuilding
in a more sustainable way. It focuses on
sustainable living, organic farming, re-
newable energy, entrepreneurship, in-
novation, preserving nature, living with
nature and still being able to grow but
not in the way they did with the financial
boom and bust.
What sparked your interest in Ice-
land to begin with?
Neither Henry nor I had ever been to
Iceland and didn’t know much about
it at all, other than it was an expen-
sive place that was quite cold up in the
North Atlantic. So it really was reading
these articles and hearing more and
more about it, the more we dug into
it, we spoke to Icelanders living in the
UK and then called a meeting with the
ambassador. We started to find a new
story, different from the article in the
newspaper we had read. It kick-started
something.
In doing all this research and edu-
cating yourself, did anything you
learn surprise you?
To begin with, the most surprising thing
was how optimistic everybody was. We
thought people would be distraught
that they might be losing their homes
and their businesses, but the idea we
got from most of our characters is that
it was a positive thing. They were done
with all these loans and being lied to by
the banks. They were finished with that.
It meant they could start again and re-
build and create something new which
they were very optimistic about and
looking forward to. It encouraged us to
make the film because we thought ev-
eryone in Iceland was in ruins because
of the financial crash, but really it had
become a fresh start for many people.
Who are the experts you speak with
in the movie?
It is a character driven film, so we do
have everyday people which is very im-
portant not to overwhelm it with just
contributors who are experts in their
field. However, we do have experts as
well. We do have Ómar Ragnarsson talk-
ing about environmental issues and the
importance of preserving nature. We
have Andri Snær Magnason, who wrote
Dreamland, addressing the issue that
Iceland is on the tipping point exactly
now, it could go one way or the other
and we just need to decide on which
way that will be. We talked to Vigdís
[Finnbogadóttir], the former president,
who stresses the importance of the
people in Iceland and the land. We also
have Þorsteinn .I. Sigfússon who is the
Director of the Innovation Centre and
a Professor of Physics, he talks about
renewable energy and developments in
the sector which you’ll see in the film.
What other positive ideas were
brought forward in the film?
It’s not a film that preaches to the audi-
ence. It simply tries to inspire people to
think a little bit differently. So without
preaching it just offers some ideas. If
one person gets a new idea from it, then
it’s a success.
What were your biggest challenges
in making the movie? Was funding
an issue?
We spent a lot of money on our first trip
and we were not fortunate enough to
get funding from the UK to make the
film. It’s been an uphill struggle to do
it, financially. We have self-financed the
majority of the film. We’ve had some
support from the Icelandic Film Fund,
which has been a huge help. We also
launched the project on our website
where we raised $10,000 US from pub-
lic donations from people from all over
the world who wanted to support us.
That was also really helpful. The rest of
the production team have all dedicated
anything from a day to a year and a half
to help us. We’ve had to ask many fa-
vours and we’re very grateful to a huge
amount of people. We had students
from the film school shooting an odd
day, here and there. We’ve also had a
huge amount of support from the post-
production house Kukl and their facili-
ties and team there.
Because of the subject matter of
the film, because it’s the first positive
documentary about Iceland since the fi-
nancial crash and because this film that
isn’t centred on the crash or on the vol-
cano, people in Iceland have been very
giving and willing to support it. They too
want to see it made.
What impact do you hope this
makes on the rest of the world?
It is intended for an international audi-
ence, but the film, first and foremost, is
for Icelanders; to inspire them in some
way or to wake up to a new way of
thinking. It allows them to realise what
is available here and what can be done
here. For an international audience it’s
more to show what Iceland is doing
and what we can take away from that.
Other countries may not have the same
resources but there are still elements
that can be taken away and built upon
to develop sustainable living.
Future of Hope will be premiering at Háskólabío
on September 1st. For more information on the
film check out www.futureofhope.co.uk
Art | Documentaries
Beyond The Boom-And-Bust
Iceland’s post-crash potential explored in documentary form
An Animated Future
One of the Icelanders involved in mak-
ing ‘Future Of Hope’ is animator and
graphic designer Una Lorenzen, who
currently lives in New York City. She
has studied both in Iceland and in
America and has worked on many ani-
mated projects including music videos
for the Bedroom Community. She con-
tributed to the film by creating several
short animated segments to highlight
historical and informational aspects of
the country that would have otherwise
been a challenge to portray.
“The main thing I worked on was
this three-minute intro that showed the
history of Iceland from the eruption of
a volcano until the crash in 2008. Quite
a big undertaking,” Una tells us. “They
wanted to focus on the independence
of Iceland and then of course the bank-
ing part. So we see the settlement and
then the Danish come in, the British
come in, the US come in, and all these
natural disasters changing things as
they go along. Then we shift into mod-
ern times with this greedy banker sit-
ting there getting all the money.”
Part of the challenge was to portray
Iceland as a role model in the world-
wide economic collapse, while trying
to remain realistic and neutral. “It got
a bit shaky because of course it has a
political element, but the point was just
to show people that this is what hap-
pened,” says Una. The other animated
segments served to highlight the vari-
ous positive ideas brought forward
throughout the documentary.

In order to put across some of the
rather weighty issues, they chose to go
with bold, quirky animations to lighten
the mood. “With the intro being so po-
litically sensitive,” she says, “using lots
of fun colours makes it a bit easier to
touch on delicate things.” Along with
the film’s director, Henry, they went with
a style similar to Terry Gilliam’s epony-
mous Monty Python animations. She
also tried to make the process the least
time-consuming as possible by gather-
ing countless photographs - some that
she shot and others from the internet -
and set about altering them, as well as
using Photoshop to paint other images.
As for the drawbacks of animation
in documentaries, Una simply couldn’t
think of any other than time. “It’s the
perfect tool. This is exactly what anima-
tion is so good for,” she says. “I don’t
see how it could have been done any
other way and I think that’s probably
why he wanted it. And I am happy with
them. I loved working on the film.”
Words
Rebecca Louder
Photography
Ingi R. Ingason
“To begin with, the most surprising thing was how
optimistic everybody was. We thought people would
be distraught that they might be losing their homes
and their businesses, but the idea we got from most
of our characters is that it was a positive thing. ”