Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Blaðsíða 22

Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Blaðsíða 22
THE NUMBER 1 MUSIC STORE IN EUROPE ACCORDING TO LONELY PLANET SKÓLAVÖRÐUSTÍG 15, 101 REYKJAVÍK AND HARPA CONCERT HALL 22 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2012FILM Offering Icelanders a window to world cinema, Hrönn says, was the goal at the time of the festival’s inception. “Like in so many other countries, most of the productions come from just one place in the world: Hollywood. And great films come from Hollywood, but it's not the world,” Hrönn says. “In the beginning, I didn’t think about anything else… I wanted to help bring this culture to Iceland.” Since then, the festival has set its sights outward, hiring experienced programmers and seeking out sig- nificant filmmakers: honoured guests have ranged from Abbas Kiarostami, in 2005, to Dario Argento, this year. But then, Hrönn adds, “we of course realised that this is so important for the Icelandic film industry to have an international event, because we found out, very soon, that the interna- tional film world was curious.” Why shouldn’t Iceland’s film culture be an active player as well as a receptive au- dience? LAUNCHING ICELANDIC CINEMA Why not indeed. Beyond a new aware- ness of the Icelandic films playing alongside offerings from the global arthouse, there are tangible ways in which the festival has made Iceland a collaborator in the same commu- nity. Hrönn likes to tell the story of the wooly Russian mystic Aleksandr Sokurov, a guest of honour at the 2006 festival, who toured the country with a local production company and then returned to film portions of his Faust, which won the Golden Lion at Ven- ice last year (and played at RIFF the month after that). There’s also the festival’s unique character, remarked upon by many a foreign guest—RIFF is, as far as anyone knows, the only international film festival with an annual screening in a swimming pool, a tradition con- tinuing this year with ‘Back To The Future’ playing Laugardalslaug—and exemplified by the fest’s major award, the Golden Puffin. (Venice has the Golden Lion, Hrönn reasons, and Ber- lin the Golden Bear, “so we thought, ok, why not choose the puffin?”). Only first or second-time feature filmmakers are eligible for the com- petition, called New Visions: identify- ing talent early is one function better served by festivals like RIFF than by, say, glamour-crammed Cannes, and indeed the RIFF slate, in and out of competition, is peppered with atten- tion-getting titles from Toronto as well as American indie breakouts from ear- lier this year. Also of gratifying interest to the up-to-date viewer is the documentary lineup. RIFF’s evolution has coincided with an explosion in the production of new films— as the means of production have become ever more ac- cessible to an ever wider pool of would-be moviemak- ers, a proliferation of nonfiction inqui- ries has been a significant result. This has enlarged the world-cinema pie for festivals such as RIFF, and gives lo- cal audiences more points of entry to world culture and politics. Docs are frequently among RIFF’s most sought-after tickets. Hrönn puts it down to the declining space for in- vestigative or research-based televi- sion, and the natural inquisitiveness of Icelanders, citizens of a island nation eager for the opportunity to interface with a much larger world. This is especially true, perhaps, in the case of the A Different Tomorrow programme, with its emphasis on eco- logical documentaries of great interest to local audiences. BRINGING THE WORLD TO ICE- LAND The goal of making Reykjavík a rel- evant destination in world cinema has perhaps taken on a new urgency since the collapse of the Icelandic banking system. Hrönn allows that the festi- val’s international profile has risen parallel to that of Iceland itself in the international imagination. In 2010, for instance, the festival and govern- ment brought the New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein over to give a talk, tour the country, and report back to his readers; he did so in a blog post rhapso- dizing the festival and the country, while also noting that his most-expenses paid trip was “part of a campaign that has also put ‘You Could Be in Iceland’ [or words to that effect] posters all over New York subways,” as part of the na- tional shift towards emphasis in cultural and heritage tourism. But if Icelandic culture has led the recovery, it’s still living with the con- sequences of the crash when, Hrönn notes ruefully, “we lost most of our important sponsors.” The festival as- pirations to do more year-round pro- gramming, like a film club in Tjar- narbíó next door to their offices, have been stalled—“you can’t do every- thing when a country goes bankrupt.” Still, the foundation and ambitions are there, as is the secure place RIFF has made for itself. Or, rather, places: the place it has made for world cinema in Iceland, and the place it has made for Iceland in world cinema. - MARK ASCH Lions and Bears and Puffins, Oh My The Reykjavík International Film Festival finds its world-cinema niche Ah, autumn in Reykjavík when, as Reykjavík International Film Festival Chair Hrönn Marinósdóttir observes, “it starts to rain, the leaves start to fall, it gets dark again, and it’s very traditional to go to the movies.” The ninth annual RIFF runs from September 27 to October 7 this year—quick on the heels of late August and early September’s prestigious festivals in Venice and Toronto, making Reykjavík a natural part of the roll-out for new titles from the international fes- tival circuit: “We thought it would be clever to be the first festival after those big events to get the new films.” INTER VIEW “The festival aspirations to do more year-round programming, like a film club in Tjarnarbíó next door to their offices, have been stalled—“you can’t do everything when a country goes bankrupt.„ Nanna Dís

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