Reykjavík Grapevine - okt 2019, Qupperneq 38

Take A Dive
A trio of visual artists bring the work of Snorri
Magnússon to light in this joyful documentary
Words: Sam O’Donnell Photos: Dominika Milek
Documentary
‘Dive: Rituals in Water’ premieres
in Reykjavík at Bíó Paradís on
September 5th
It is an old cliché that reality is
stranger than fiction and this
was certainly the case for direc-
tors Hanna Björk Valsdóttir, Elín
Hansdóttir, and Anna Rún Tryg-
gvadóttir as they went about cre-
ating their latest project, ‘Dive:
Rituals In Water.’ The documen-
tary tells the story of Snorri Mag-
nússon, a swim coach with an un-
conventional clientele: babies.
While most children learn to
swim around age five or so, Snorri
teaches infants as young as four
months old. This may seem dan-
gerous, but babies are born with
the instinct to hold their breath
underwater, meaning they have
an innate ability to swim. Snorri’s
teaching method involves singing
to them, blowing on their faces,
and then dunking them under-
water. However, he never rushes
their progress. He will also drum
on his belly, splash in the water to
a beat like a metronome, and lift
the babies above the surface to
make them feel comfortable. It’s
a surreal spectacle that translated
to a beautiful film.
The origins
The inspiration for the documen-
tary was Snorri himself. Elín and
Anna Rún had children around
the same time, and
took their babies to
Snorri’s swimming
class. Together,
along with Hanna,
they met weekly,
discussing how
charismatic Snorri
was, and how interesting it would
be to make a film about his pecu-
liar profession.
Soon after, the three talked to
him about making the film. The
end result is a film that explores
the depths of human empathy in
a surprisingly short run-time. “He
works a lot with intuition, con-
necting with the child, watching
the child, seeing the child’s re-
sponse,” Elín says.
“And he has a special bond with
the babies. You can see that,” adds
Hanna.
A visual treat
The three filmmakers began the
process nearly four years ago.
From the onset, they were inter-
ested in the tactile aspects of wa-
ter. However, the problem with
filming in a pool is, for one thing,
the water. Filming underwater
isn’t as simple as just dunking
the camera. To fix this, the three
teamed up with cinematographer
Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson, who not
only worked with a crane in the
pool, but also created some truly
exquisite shots underwater by
placing the camera in a weighted
aquarium.
The other difficulty of filming
in a pool is the sound quality, but
the filmmakers used the echoic
sounds of pools to their advan-
tage. “By working with the sound,
you can give the feeling of a baby’s
experience. We can’t ask them,
‘what do you think of Snorri’s
class?’ but we can imagine,” says
Elín. They subse-
quently paired up
with Björn Viktors-
son, who was also
the sound designer
for ‘Rams’ and
‘White, White Day.’
With his expertise,
they were able to tell a story par-
tially from the point of view of an
infant.
Special charisma
The film premiered in the US in
March to critical acclaim, which
is interesting because the most
apprehensive couple in the film
is American. Snorri’s technique
of blowing on a baby’s face and
then dunking them is widely ap-
plied now, but when he started in
the early 1990s, it was a pioneering
idea.
To this day, the teacher can
be seen drumming on his belly,
standing babies on the palm of his
hand, holding them aloft like little
emperors, and singing in the pool
at Skálatún Development Home
in Mosfellsbær. He is a remark-
ably unselfconscious man, adding
to his remarkable charisma. The
babies love him, and, it turns out,
filmgoers do too.
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Elín Hansdóttir and Hanna Björk Valsdóttir, two of the film's three directors
“He has a spe-
cial bond with
the babies. You
can see that”
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