Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2013, Blaðsíða 24

Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.05.2013, Blaðsíða 24
Film 24The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 5 — 2013 THE FRESHEST FISH ....AND IDEAS! SKÓLAVÖRÐUSTÍGUR 14 - 101 REYKJAVÍK - 571 1100 After years of study, strings of awards and having led kitchens of some of Reykjavík’s most esteemed restaurants, Gústav still sees him self as just a kid from up north, with a life- time passion for fish. List of licenced Tour Operators and Travel Agencies on: visiticeland.com Licensing and registration of travel- related services The Icelandic Tourist Board issues licences to tour operators and travel agents, as well as issuing registration to booking services and information centres. Tour operators and travel agents are required to use a special logo approved by the Icelandic Tourist Board on all their advertisements and on their Internet website. Booking services and information centres are entitled to use a Tourist Board logo on all their material. The logos below are recognised by the Icelandic Tourist Board. Tom Cruise is slowly strangling himself in some post-apocalyptic desert landscape. Yes, we are watching ‘Oblivion,’ a dystopian future film shot in Iceland, and surely this is how he must have felt when he was here. It was not a happy time for the world’s highest paid actor, living in a mansion on the hill overlooking Eyjafjörður, so far from Hollywood and so close to Akureyri. For one thing, after over a quarter century as one of cinema’s top guns, he turned fifty. This would be a cause of concern for anyone, but for someone trading on his boy-ish good looks, the prospect of old age must seem daunting. To make matters worse, his wife Katie Holmes refused to join him on his birthday, electing for divorce instead. The suit was filed the day before Iceland re-elected its president, who has been in office since Cruise was still married to Nicole Kidman and making his first Mission: Impossible film. It was not a happy time for anyone. A report that a local supermarket had been closed to the public so that the actor could do his shopping undisturbed turned out to be untrue, but roads were indeed closed off during his stay up north, much to the irritation of local sheep farmers who could no longer go their usual routes. Cruise is in fact one of the few actors with the pull to have the roads near his home in Hollywood per- manently closed to the public, but in a country that has long prided itself on social equality and where stories abound of sheep farmers addressing the King of Denmark as an equal, this impressed no one. While Ben Stiller charmed inhabitants of the East Fjords during the making of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and Russel Crowe became a Reykjavík local by pumping iron at the gym and singing with Patti Smith downtown on his days off from ‘Noah,’ the local verdict on Cruise remains mixed. So, was all the suffering worth it? Well, kind of. ‘Oblivion’ is a superior, if not ground-breaking, science fiction film with a rather obvious plot twist and excellent visuals. A bar- ren, future hell (Iceland, of course) is populated by clones of the world’s most perfect man (Tom Cruise, of course). In between repairing predator drones made to kill sand people in Darth Vader masks, he has fashioned himself a tiny oasis safe for basketball, baseball caps and Led Zeppelin records (these scenes are shot somewhere else). Northern Iceland here stands in for New York in 2077, and it is by no means the first time Iceland is used as a dystopia. The first time was ‘Enemy Mine,’ made in 1985 in Vestmannaeyjar but sadly then reshot in a studio, and the latest one bar this is Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel ‘Pro- metheus.’ Iceland will also soon make an appearance in ‘Thor II,’ where it will probably be the home of the Dark Elves, as in the aforementioned ‘Noah,’ but whether it will be portrayed in this as a new paradise or as a world ripe for drowning remains to be seen. Iceland, then, is most often used to represent Hollywood screenwrit- ers’ idea of a dark and forbidding place. This, in itself, is kind of funny to locals. “Hey, I can almost see my house from here,” one sometimes feels like shouting at the screen. In more optimistic times, many thought New York was what the world would look like in the future. These days, with global warming, it is more likely that the wastes of Iceland are what New York will wind up looking like. Or, to (mis)quote a phrase from Rambo, what most people call hell, we call home. - Valur Gunnarsson It’s a cold world out there. No one knows that better than the documen- tary filmmaker, whose job it is to por- tray that world, in all of its gruesome glory, to the public. Lucky for them, Reykjavík provides a warm home to celebrate the fruits of their labour. For one week, from May 9–16, The Shorts&Docs Film Festival will screen 88 carefully selected documentaries and short films in downtown Reykja- vík. We met with the Festival Director Heather Millard to discuss the impor- tance of the festival, the international guest-list and the exciting films and festivities in store. SEEKING SHELTER Iceland has no shortage of national film festivals. The annual Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) leads the pack as the most widely known (for now!), with a smatter- ing of smaller festivals popping up all over Iceland. What sets the Shorts&Docs festival apart from the rest is the, perhaps obvious, fact that it shows exclusively short films and documentaries. But aside from satisfying the gen- eral public’s demand for entertain- ment, the festival is a necessary part of Iceland’s emerging documentary film industry. Documentaries, Heath- er notes, are easily the most difficult films to market. Having worked for many years in the industry herself as a movie producer, she says this with a qualified voice. When people go out for a cinema experience, they want popcorn and entertainment, some- thing to displace them from their daily lives for a couple of hours. It’s less common that people seek out the thought-provoking reality that documentaries offer. That being said, emerging from a quality documentary film can be one of the most satisfying and inspiring cinema experiences. Thus, the festival is for the sake of the filmmakers, the subjects of the films, and the audience’s own good. THE FILMS Due to limited funding and resources for the festival, Heather tells us that she tried to decrease the list of films from last year’s record 75. But instead, it grew and Heather is enthusiastic about this year’s 88 films, each one chosen carefully from over 350 total submissions. With that many films, Heather is sure that there will be something for everyone. “If documentaries are not your cup of tea,” Heather asserts, “I’ll bet we have one that can convince you otherwise. Same goes for the short films.” Her confidence stems from two main components of the selection pro- cess: variety and quality. “Some of the films are surprising, others intriguing, but they are all selected because they are quality films. With so many films to choose from, they have to be high quality films.” Along with the broader category break-ups, the festival will also feature blocks of ‘spotlight sections.’ This year’s include a German section, a Pol- ish section, and an Icelandic Female Filmmakers section. AN INTIMATE EXPERIENCE Once festival season hits, it’s “all hands on deck,” Heather says, refer- ring to the all-star crew of volunteers and collaborators that make the festival possible each year. Her own personal involvement with films ties her to a global network of industry professionals, allowing her to compile an extensive multi-cultural guest list. Last year, Heather recalls inviting the entire line-up of filmmakers over to her own house for a home-cooked dinner. Of course, the public is well provided for throughout the festival as well. Local venues all over town welcome festivalgoers each night with special offers, live music, and the occasional free drink. Along with the excitement of the films themselves, the Shorts&Docs Festival endows Reykjavík with a rich atmosphere of perks and parties. The international guest list of talented and hard-working filmmak- ers combined with Iceland’s famously tight-knit capital makes for a large- scale yet uniquely intimate experience. As the festival grows, she hopes that the international filmmaking crowd will recognise Reykjavík Shorts&Docs and take their own initiative to get an invitation to Reykjavík. In the mean- time, Heather’s mission: “to introduce Iceland’s public to films they may otherwise miss, and to get these films the exposure they need to jump onto the global film circuit.” - Parker Yamasaki What Most People Call Hell, We Call Home Shorts And Docs Not Just a Southern California Fashion Phenomenon “A barren, fu- ture hell (Iceland, of course) is popu- lated by clones of the world’s most perfect man (Tom Cruise, of course).” “If documenta- ries are not your cup of tea, I’ll bet we have one that can convince you other- wise. Same goes for the short films.” 9 MAY Bíó Paradís, KEX Hostel, Slipp Bíó – 16 MAY Visit www.shortsdocsfest.com to see the full programme of events.

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