Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.04.2013, Qupperneq 12

How The Academy Award
Underwent A Sex Change
By Sigurður Kjartan Kristinsson
It’s a beautiful night in February and the multi-co-
loured freak-of-a-concert hall that is Harpa blinks
its fancy lights enthusiastically. Tonight it plays host
to yet another extravagant gala. It’s the time of year
when the Icelandic Film & TV Academy hands out
these small shiny statues to those it believes delivered
the best work on the silver screen the preceding year.
In this most flamboyant of flamboyant businesses,
people dress up, as you can imagine, but the crowd
that’s just filled the lobby is far from the norm. It ap-
pears to be a group of ‘20s prohibitionist-era hood-
lums, but it’s actually a gathering of women wearing
suits and phony moustaches. And those women are
making a point.
EDDAN WENT EDDINN
In Icelandic, The Academy Award bears the name
‘Edda,’ a common female’s name, which means
‘grandmother.’ It is the name that one of Iceland’s
dearest poets, Snorri Sturluson, chose for his depiction
of the creation of the world in his literary magnum
opus ‘Snorra-Edda.’ However motherly and female
that shiny statue’s moniker is, it won’t end up in the
hands of many women later that night. Never before
has a single year in the film history of Iceland resulted
in as few nominations of female artists, but The Acad-
emy isn’t being misogynistic; there simply aren’t many
women to nominate. Our moustached ladies are pro-
testing this patriarchal system error by demonstrating
that the old and beautiful name Edda isn’t suitable any-
more, that the androcentric celebration should really
be called the boyish nickname, ‘Eddi.’
SO WHERE DID IT
ALL GO WRONG?
Iceland’s film industry has been booming in the last
few years. Following the establishment of a 20% re-
bate in 1999 on all production costs for films shot on
location in Iceland, the annual number of foreign mo-
tion pictures produced on Icelandic soil has slowly
exceeded the Icelandic ones. More and more, local
production is becoming Robin of the Gotham-scene,
the goofy sidekick.
This evolution has been mostly positive. Al-
though it’s becoming more difficult for local produc-
ers to lure talent with their micro budgets compared
to Hollywood cash, local film crews are getting more
steady work, which is also making the business a
more feasible option to break into. The increased in-
terest in film also presumably led the government, for
example, to increase its contribution to the Icelandic
Film Centre this year.
It seems, however, that the entire payoff has ended
up in a few hairy and rugged male paws. In 2012,
three feature films were produced, all three directed
and written by a man about issues like crime, sea-
manship and sci-fi. And Icelandic films score no bet-
ter than Hollywood films on the Bechdel test (does
the film have two female characters with names, do
they talk, do they talk about something other than
men). So why aren’t any stories being told by women
or from a woman’s point of view?
A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM
“It’s beneficial for everybody to have diversity. We have
to hear women’s stories as well as men’s stories, which
are written and directed by women,” says Hrönn Kris-
tinsdóttir, a leading feature film producer in Iceland and
the co-owner of the prestigious production company
Ljósband Filmworks. “There’s not a lack of women
in the industry really, but many of them have chosen
a more womanly direction, i.e. in the hair and makeup
departments rather than directing or writing.”
Hrönn is convinced that it’s not for lack of want,
but recognises that the problem is deeply ingrained in
society and it starts early in childhood. “The number
one problem is that there is this hiatus, a certain discon-
tinuity that girls go through in their adolescence, and it
is growing,” Hrönn explains. “Girls tend to stop writ-
ing and creating and focus more on their appearance,
which isn’t healthy when you’re maturing as a person.”
Nowadays this period takes up a whole decade, she
says. “They disappear at age 11 and come back when
they’re 20.” This leads them to fall far behind boys who
she says too go through a similar phase, but it’s much
shorter and less apparent.
“Ideally we wouldn’t need to enforce measures like
gender quotas,” Hrönn says, but realises that making the
problem right can take some time. “We need to incorpo-
rate more creative programmes into our school system
with motivating workshops for young girls. Give them
cameras to experiment with and be inspired. She also
believes that it should be mandatory for students to take
a course in film analysis with gender motives in mind.
It is a common misunderstanding that women only
make movies about women, she notes. “Let’s take Lone
Scherfig, one of Denmark’s most successful directors,
for example. She writes mostly about young men, but
from a woman’s perspective.”
THE MOUSTACHE-PACK
One of the 17 women who showed up wearing mous-
taches, actress and a film-editor Steffi Thors, explains
that the group came up with the idea when this year’s
nominations were announced. “We saw the absurdly
small proportion of the nominations going to women
and wanted to show people that we were just as promi-
nent members of the film family, although our work is
often behind the scenes.”
It’s often women who play the biggest roles in mov-
ies: they usually produce the films, let the boys shoot it
and then take over in the post-production and edit the
final product. “One of the reasons women tend to lurk
in the shadows is the fear of making mistakes,” Steffi
says, noting that she sees parallels in the jazz world
too. “Interestingly, there’s only a handful of girls in the
jazz scene in Iceland where you have to improvise and
be a little spontaneous, so I think it’s the same fear of
making mistakes.” And Steffi thinks that the solution
lies exactly there: “I think we need to let go, just write
a script and dare to make mistakes—we just have to
jazz it up!”
This fierce group of vigilantes undoubtedly
‘jazzed’ up the Edda that night, and hopefully more
than that. “People saw that we were having fun,” Steffi
says, “and it’ll hopefully inspire more girls to join our
ranks in the film industry.”
Kolabrautin is on 4th floor Harpa
Order a table in phone 519 9700
info@kolabrautin.is
www.kolabrautin.is
Whether you experience our surprising neo–Nordic influenced cuisine, or have a drink at
our renowned cocktail bar while enjoying one of the best panoramic views in Reykjavík,
an evening at Kolabrautin is truly a feast for all the senses.
ICELANDIC PRODUCE
MEDITERRANEAN TRADITIONS.
17 out of 133
Icelandic feature films directed by
women
16 Women vs. 43 Men
nominated for an Edda in 2013
6 Women vs. 11 Men
awarded an Edda in 2013 (best actress,
best supporting actress, best ward-
robe, best editing, best make up,
honorary award)
FACTS
It seems, however, that
the entire payoff has
ended up in a few hairy
and rugged male paws
“
„
12The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 4 — 2013 Go read more about Eddan and Icelandic films at www.edda.is