Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Page 32

B. R. NEAL
STILLS
WOMEN IN FILM
This year’s festival patron is filmmaker
Kim Longinotto. She has been mak-
ing films for the last 35 years, often
tackling controversial subjects and
featuring intimate portraits of women
around the world.
She received a Peabody Award
and two Cannes Film Festival Awards
for her film ‘Sisters In Law,’ which will
incidentally screen at this year’s festi-
val. She will host a Q&A after several
of the screenings and as an added
bonus she will teach a master class
for filmmakers, students, and others
interested.
As part of this year’s special
women-in-film section UN Women
will host a panel discussion after the
screening of ‘Sarabah,’ a film which
centres on female genital mutilation
in Senegal and one woman’s grass-
roots campaign to end the practice.
Stígamót, Iceland’s rape crisis centre,
will host a panel discussion after the
powerful documentary ‘The Price of
Sex,’ which sheds light on the issue of
human trafficking.
32
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2012
Film | Festival
Reykjavík Shorts&Docs Festival:
Noted cultural event Reykjavík
Shorts&Docs celebrates its tenth
anniversary this year. We spoke to
new festival director Heather Mil-
lard, who says she hopes to trans-
form the local film fest—which until
now focused on Nordic films— into
an internationally recognised and
respected one that will serve as a
platform for Icelandic filmmakers in
years to come.
“This year we have more films, from
more countries, and many more inter-
national guests visiting in order repre-
sent their films or discuss distribution
methods,” Heather tells me. In fact, over
75 films from over 20 countries will be
screened during the four day festival,
which takes place from May 6 to 9.
The festival has something for ev-
eryone: short humorous films, anima-
tions, documentaries on lighter sub-
jects, and hard hitting docs on serious
issues. Each evening’s screenings
are preceded by a themed event cor-
responding with the evening’s films.
There will also be workshops, masters
classes, panel discussions, and various
competitions.
Heather says the festival is strategi-
cally positioned so that it is in line with
the international film festival circuit. “It
falls directly after Hot Docs [in Toronto]
and just before Cannes,” she tells me,
“and with Iceland being positioned
where it is, people are able to get here
easily from North America as they are
on their way to Europe. So it’s a good
bridge for people on the film circuit.”
Could Reykjavík really become a
hot spot for international film? “Abso-
lutely!” Heather says. “Reykjavík is a
great city and it’s manageable for inter-
national guests to get around in. There
is a very strong creative industry here
with a surprising amount of films being
produced each year, both in the short
film and documentary categories. That
combined with the natural beauty of
Iceland makes us sure that guests will
be inspired to return year after year for
the festival.”

Bigger, Better, More International!
Four day passes and single tickets are available at as well as
several free off-venue events.
CAN’T CHOOSE?
HERE ARE SOME PICKS
Not Such a Beautiful Landscape
- Dir. Emiliano Monaco - documentary
Yugo
- Dir. Mina Djukic - short documentary
Afterglow
- Dir. Ali Silverstein - documentary
Being Bradford Dillman
- dir. Emma Burch - short film
We Are Weather
- Dir. Maria Kjartans - short film
Reykjavik Revolution
- Director Ísold Uggadóttir - short film