Reykjavík Grapevine - 27.09.2019, Síða 34

It’s Time For
Our Statuette
Hlynur Palmason’s ‘A White, White Day’
heads to the Oscars
Words: Valur Grettisson/Tara Njála In!varsdóttir
Photo: Hlynur Pálmason
Film
You can see 'Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur' in
Biíó Paradís with English subtitles.
Check out their homepage for
screenings.
It’s official: Hlynur Pálmason’s ‘A
White, White Day’ will be Iceland’s
contribution to the 2020 Academy
Awards. The film, Hlynur’s sec-
ond, has been travelling the world,
picking up heat after its premiere
at the International Critics Week
at Cannes earlier this year. His de-
but effort, ‘Vetrarbræ!ur’ (‘Win-
terbrothers’) was similarly suc-
cessful, so it’s clear that Hlynur
is one-to-watch on the Icelandic
scene.
‘A White, White Day’ tells
the story of Ingimundur, a re-
tired police commissioner who
is dealing with the tragic death
of his wife. When he learns that
she was having an affair before
she died, his life is turned upside
down into a visually stunning and
soul-wrenchingly cathartic tale.
Time as a medium
Hlynur’s education was in the
visual arts—something that’s
clear when you see his films,
which blur the lines between
visual arts and filmmaking.
Unlike many other filmmak-
ers, Hlynur works across medi-
ums, playing with moving images,
sounds, paintings
and sculptures. He
spoke with Rey-
kjavík Grapevine in
August about the
importance of time
as a medium in his
film work. For him,
these are all parallel
processes. “One of
the things that ex-
cites me about this relationship
is that a photograph can trigger
a story or a storyline that builds
into a film,” he shares. “Or you can
be working on a film and it trig-
gers something in your painting. I
tend to think of my films as com-
positions.”
“Filmmaking and this film
are very much about rhythm and
time,” Hlynur continues. “Oil can
be said to be the medium of paint-
ing. Time is the medium of film-
making.”
Through the cinematography
of the film’s prologue, Hlynur
aimed to convey “the experience of
time passing”—from the death of
the protagonist’s wife to when the
story begins. He does so through
stunning landscape shots of the
run down-house that Ingimun-
dur is fixing up for his daughter
and grand-daughter. The mon-
tage becomes an introduction to
the landscape, the character of
the weather, and a glimpse at how
time passes for the living after
death.
Third time’s the charm
Iceland’s contribution to the Os-
cars is always decided by a vote
among those in the Icelandic film
industry. Hlynur’s picture won by
a large majority, so it’s safe to say
that this was not a controversial
decision.
The film will now be added to
a long list of contributions from
dozens of other
countries, all of
which are in the
running for a nom-
ination in the Best
International Fea-
ture Film category.
Current frontrun-
ners are ‘Parasite,’
directed by Bong
Joon-Ho (South Ko-
rea), ‘Pain & Glory,’ directed by
Pedro Almodóvar (Spain), and ‘Les
Misérables,’ directed by Ladj Ly
(France).
The last time an Icelandic film
was nominated for an Oscar was
in 2006, when Rúnar Rúnarsson’
film, ‘Sí!asti bærinn’ (‘The Last
Farm’) was in the running to be
named Best Short Film. That was
just the second time an Icelandic
filmmaker was acknowledged by
the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, after Fri!rik
"ór Fri!riksson’s ‘Börn Náttúrun-
nar’ (‘Children Of Nature’) was
nominated in the Best Foreign
Language Film category in 1992.
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Share this + Archives
Hlynur Pálmason creates soul-wrenchingly cathartic narratives
“Oil can be said
to be the me-
dium of paint-
ing. Time is
the medium of
filmmaking.”
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