Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.06.2018, Qupperneq 18

Rain and wind, followed by some
hail is typical spring weather in the
Westfjords. That was the scenario
in Patreksfjörður during Skjaldborg
Festival of Icelandic Documenta-
ries, which took place earlier this
month. Thankfully, though, it's
is not an outdoor festival —it’s a
n event where you spend the day
watching the newest Icelandic
documentaries, while chewing on
salty popcorn,  in the town's hip,
old fashioned cinema. To top it all
off, the evenings are packed with
fun, feasts and parties. Certainly
too good to be true!
Even though this festival is
celebrated in the
northwest part of
the country, it has a
very southern vibe
to it. With bacalhau
dishes, a drum roll-
ing parade through
town, conga danc-
ing, and a limbo
c on t e s t , p e op l e
were dancing into
the early hours of
the morning. If it
wasn’t for the cold, crisp Arctic wind
you could easily mistake this place
for  Lisbon, Portugal.
Performance art
by the chefs
Of course there are some very Icelan-
dic factors in the equation,one being
the fish party that the women’s club
of Patreksfjörður host every year
on the Saturday afternoon of the
festival. It is kind of hard to explain
what exactly goes on during that
event, but it’s almost like perfor-
mance art from a few of the ener-
getic local women,
who cook up tradi-
tional fish stew. The
stew contains cod,
potatoes and cheese,
and is served with
rye bread and a lot of
butter. The delicious
food is followed by
presentation of
the festival’s public
award of the year —
Einarinn, a unique
wooden trophy, crafted by the
carpentry teacher of the town, Einar
Skarphéðinsson.The event creates a
great atmosphere leading into the
evening. A big factor in creating that
atmosphere is the festival’s host,
Ragnar Ísleifur Bragason, who is
an essential link of the organisa-
tion. Whilst introducing Einarinn,
he proved to us that he is quite the
character, making the room shake
with laughter with his one-liners
and hilarious remarks. Saturday
came to an end with a masterclass
from the festival's guest of honour,
Nils Pagh Andersen; finally, there
was a bring-your-own-booze party
in the charming old Pakkhúsið
where a DJ had guests sweating on
the dancefloor well into the early
hours.
Conga dancing and
limbo contest
The festival’s final day was slightly
warmer and packed with fun events.
Guests enjoyed excellent documen-
taries throughout the day as well
as following up the evolution of
some work-in-progress documen-
taries, which were introduced by
their respective directors. Following
this, there was an amazing bacalhau
plate on offer at Pakkhúsið. The
lovely meal set up the evening nicely
for the final documentary, 'Kanarí,'
leading up to a memorable stand
up show by Snjólaug Lúðvíksdóttir. 
I’ll be back
After voting for the festival’s best
movies, guests paraded in a police
escort to the town social centre,
where the prizes were given out.
'Kanema’s Song' was this year’s
winner and swept both public and
jury prizes. After some conga danc-
ing and a limbo contest, the band
Bjartar Sveiflur performed. Dressed
all in white, they had an '80s-style
setup, and proceeded to wow the
guests with their innovative covers
of well known pop songs. T festival's
guests danced the night away, and
just one thought was stuck on my
mind: Skjaldborg Festival... I´ll be
back!
Read an interview with the winner
of Skjaldborg at page 42.
Skjaldborg Festival:
I'll be back!
The unique documentary festival,
Skjaldborg, was held in the far West
of Iceland in May
Words: Aron Ingi Guðmundsson Photo: Atli Már Hafsteinsson
The costa del Patreksfjörður comes to life for Skjaldborg
“If it wasn’t for
the Arctic wind
you could easily
mistake this
place for Lisbon,
Portugal.”
18 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2018
The festival parade
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