Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.11.2017, Qupperneq 38

A Look Inside
Small Town Iceland
We saw this charming film about daily life
in a northeastern fishing village
Words: Jenna Mohammed Photo: Still from the film
‘690 Vopnafjörður’
Documentary
No frills and bare bones, ‘690
Vopnafjörður’ documents every-
day life in a small fishing village
in Iceland. Director Karna Sig-
urðardóttir and cinematographer
Sebastian Ziegler have beautifully
demonstrated the highs and lows
of living in a community of fewer
than 700 people.
600 kilometers away from Rey-
kjavík, Vopnafjörður thrives off
of community engagement. Like
anywhere in the world, there are
various push and pull factors that
may lead you away from a desti-
nation. In Vopnafjörður, the push
factors are far more evident, as it’s
very secluded from the rest of the
country.
Unvarnished truth
Upon seeing the film, it’s natural
to ask yourself ‘That’s it? What’s
the point?’ For Karna and Sebas-
tian, that was exactly the vision.
“First we wanted to make a film
that captures how it feels to live in
a small fishing village in Iceland,”
says Sebastian. “Second, when we
started this five years ago, Iceland
was just beginning to become a
popular destination. The ‘Inspired
by Iceland’ campaign came out at
this time as well, and the kind of
imagery that was being produced
to show off Iceland was very hy-
per-realistic. It’s an incomplete
picture.” In recent years Iceland
has become a utopia for outsiders,
who cannot truly know what it
means to live in Iceland, let alone
in a village like Vopnafjörður. It’s
fair to agree with Karna and Se-
bastian when they claim the ad-
vertisements of Icelandic culture
do not present an honest picture of
Icelandic character. Karna want-
ed to approach the community of
Vopnafjörður in an authentic way;
she says everyone was very brave in
being real about everyday life and
not pretending. “Nobody was act-
ing or trying to play a role— they
were just being themselves."
A rare old time
‘690 Vopnafjörður’ was shot over
the course of five years, starting
in 2012. The producers claim was
difficult but fun and rewarding
because it developed in such an
organic way. In 2015, there were
a lot of changes in Vopnafjörður,
and this brought about a judgment
call for Karna and Sebastian, who
were unsure if they should change
the angle of the movie. They de-
cided to stay loyal to the period
they made the film. “The film is
released in 2017 but it’s actually
about Vopnafjörður in 2012,” says
Karna “You can make a film about
Vopnafjörður now and there would
be a lot of elements that are not the
same. That’s how things are; noth-
ing is frozen in time.” The aim is
to capture a moment. From Sebas-
tian’s perspective, he sees Vopna-
fjörður stuck between times. “It’s
very old fashion, going back two
or three hundred years, but they
have the modern reality of televi-
sion and automatic factories,” he
says. “They have old values, new
realities and are still trying to fig-
ure out the balance of creating ‘the
good life’.”
Best of both worlds
There’s one scene shot at sea of a
shark hunter at work. Beautiful-
ly shot, it makes the audience feel
a sense of nostalgia. At first you
think it's just a man working in
fishing village but these scenes are
pivotal. There aren’t many people
left in Iceland who still shark hunt
in a traditional way as shown in the
film, but Vopnafjörður is equipped
with very technical factories, and
gain a lot of investment from Ice-
land’s biggest fishing companies.
Karna says this is a bit of a struggle
between the old and the new world,
and question is, where do they
place themselves? “You can feel it
very strongly in the community.
They are very historically inclined
in the sense of being interested
in history, still having old values.
They have traditions in Vopna-
fjörður,” she says. “You can’t really
see these traditions in Reykjavík.
Reykjavík has left these times, but
Vopnafjörður keeps these old val-
ues, and old Icelandic character.”
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Museums
ÁRBÆR OPEN AIR MUSEM
Daily guided tours
Tours are from 13:00 to 14:00
through its open air exhibits.
• On permanent view
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ICELAND
'The Making of A Nation'
This exhibition is intended to pro-
vide insight into the history of the
Icelandic nation from Settlement to
the present day.
• On permanent view
REYKJAVÍK CITY MUSEUM
‘Settlement Sagas: Accounts from
Manuscripts’
This exhibition has rarely seen
manuscripts that tell the history of
the settlement of Reykjavík.
• On permanent view
REYKJAVÍK MARITIME MUSEUM
'The Coast Guard Vessel Óðinn'
This vessel sailed through all three
Cod Wars and has also served as a
rescue ship to more than 200 ships.
• On permanent view
'From Poverty to Abundance'
Photos documenting Icelandic
fishermen at the turn of the 20th
century.
• On permanent view
'The History of Sailing'
Iceland’s maritime history that
showcases the growth of the Reyk-
javík Harbour.
• On permanent view
'Seawomen'
The fishing women of Iceland, past
and present.
• On permanent view
VOLCANO HOUSE
The exhibition gives a brief overview
of Iceland’s magnificent nature.
• On permanent view
THE ICELANDIC PHALLOLOGICAL
MUSEUM
Permanent Exhibition
More than 215 penises and penile
parts belonging to land and sea
mammals of Iceland.
• On permanent view
Events
Film
FILM