Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.09.2013, Qupperneq 24

Art | Inspired by a glacier
24The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 15 — 2013
Words
Mark Asch
RIFF Is Back For The Tenth Time!
This year’s filmmakers give us an idea of
what to expect…
The tenth annual festival, which opened on September 26 and continues through to Oc-
tober 6, is comprised of 75 features as well as a number of Icelandic shorts and special
events. In fulfilment of RIFF’s mission of bringing this culture to Iceland, as festival Chair
Hrönn Marinósdóttir put it to the Grapevine last year, Icelandic audiences will have a
chance to see films fresh off appearances at Cannes, Venice, Toronto, and other high-
profile festivals; and directors, from the world-renowned to the up-and-coming, will
be appearing alongside their work. As a survey of the world-cinema buffet RIFF offers
up, we sent out questionnaires to filmmakers who’ll be in town to present their work; a
selection of their responses is below, and more responses can be found at grapevine.is.
The first Reykjavík International Film Festival was held in 2004 and featured just over a dozen
predominantly Icelandic titles. By the following fall, the programme had more than tripled and Ira-
nian master Abbas Kiarostami became the first globally renowned auteur to be honoured by RIFF.
Issue 15 — 2013 RIFF
“Expedition to the End of the
World” documents the voyage of
a schooner with a crew of artists
and scientists that sailed through
the melting ice of northern Green-
land. Danish director
Daniel Dencik was aboard:
How did this film come into exis-
tence, and why?
A ship was going to sail to an unex-
plored land; a producer heard about it
and asked me if I wanted to film it.
What did you learn in making
the film?
That it is megalomaniac of us to
think that we can destroy Earth.
What's the most interesting re-
sponse (rewarding, critical, thought-
provoking or bizarre) you've thus far
received from someone who's seen
the film?
In a theatre in Switzerland, a person
fainted and an ambulance had to come.
Apparently it was a case of Stendhal
Syndrome: something is so beautiful that
it paralyses you and eventually leads you
into a state of psychosis.
Is there any element of the film that
you're especially interested in shar-
ing with an Icelandic audience?
There is one shot of Iceland in the
film, disguised as a shot on Greenland.
Try to figure out which one...
How is ‘Expedition to the End of the
World’ different from ‘Encounters at
the End of the World,’ aside from the
fact that they take place at literally
opposite ends of the world?
I think Herzog is great. Maybe his
film is more like a Western than mine,
and my film is more like an opera than
his.
In “Vanishing Point,” docu-
mentary filmmakers Stephen Smith
and Julia Szucs explore the lives of
Inuit communities in Canada and
Greenland, particularly looking at
how they are coping with social
and environmental change.
What's the most interesting re-
sponse (rewarding, critical, thought-
provoking or bizarre) you've thus far
received from someone who's seen
the film?
Interestingly, we have found that
even vegetarians and those who do
not directly relate to hunting culture
have been supportive of the film. We
wondered whether we might get a nega-
tive response from those opposed to
hunting, but it seems that instead there is
a response of respectful understanding
of the necessity for Northern peoples to
a live a lifestyle that includes hunting and
an animal flesh diet. Perhaps this follows
on the heels of a growing awareness of
the problems of industrialised agricul-
ture. So we’re finding what is for us a
surprising interest from audiences to
understand what it means, culturally, to
increase one’s self-reliance and security
when it comes to food harvesting.
Is there any element of the film that
you're especially interested in shar-
ing with an Icelandic audience?
We are confident that Icelanders,
who also live close to nature and have
a strong sense of independence and
self-reliance, will relate to the marine
hunting culture that is the focus of the
film. For those living close to the sea,
there is a dependence on an intact and
sustainable approach to managing and
harvesting from the marine ecosystem.
We hope that Icelanders will enjoy
immersing themselves in the lives of
those who—partially due to geographic
isolation—must look to their immedi-
ate environment for food security and
cultural integrity.
‘Coldwater,’ a competition title
and the feature directorial debut of
California-based Vincent Grashaw,
concerns a troubled teenager who
is sent off to a wilderness boot-
camp reform facility.
How did this film come into exis-
tence, and why?
I started writing the script when I
was fairly young, about 18 years old. I
knew I wanted to make movies and had
known a kid who was abducted in the
middle of the night and sent to a camp
for juvenile delinquents. I didn’t know
how bad in reality these issues were
until I began researching. I brought on
my writing partner after several failed
attempts at trying to get the movie made.
So it wasn’t like I researched for 13 years
and made the product which is the
movie… it just evolved over the years,
as I matured as a filmmaker. It wouldn’t
be the same movie if I had made it back
then, so I’m grateful for the years of
struggling to do it the right way.
What discussions did you have
about the visual style of the film?
When you’re making a film like this
(fact-based, violent stakes), is there
a conventional look that you’re
conscious of?
My cinematographer and I spoke
a lot about how we felt the film should
look. I did feel that because the beautiful
landscape in the wilderness environment
is a heavy contrast to the violence and
experiences of the characters in the film,
that it would definitely stand out visually.
I wanted it to feel like a theatrical motion
picture—not a stripped-down, down and
dirty independent film. I feel like techni-
cally the film holds up with any movie
in a cineplex. Regardless of the dark
subject matter, it’s a fictional story and
I wanted it to be a thrilling moviegoing
experience which stands on its own.
September 26 - October 10
Reykjavík International Film Festival
ISK 9.500
(festival Pass)