Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2020, Blaðsíða 28

RIFF & Chill
For 2020, the Reykjavík International
Film Festival !oes di!ital-hybrid
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Art Bicnick
Make sure your connection is
strong and electricity stays run-
ning because the Reykjavík Inter-
national Film Festival is back and
this time can be enjoyed from the
comfort of your new IKEA sofa.
Yes, for its 2020 iteration, the an-
nual cinematic lollapalooza is go-
ing online, meaning tickets grant
you access to special screenings
that can be viewed from any inter-
net connection in Iceland.
Viking positive
“When we got the news that
we were back to [gathering]
restrictions, we thought, ok,
we can’t fight this, but we’re
Vikings so we will just pull up our
sleeves and make the best of it!”
said RIFF team member María
Ólafsdóttir, smiling. The group,
she emphasises, firmly decided
not to frame the changes to their
formatting as “Due to COVID.”
“No, we said, ok, this time we
are online. We were very positive
about it,” she laughs. “Not COVID-
positive, of course. Just positive.”
The RIFF organisers, María re-
lays, saw this as an opportunity
to spread their reach in Iceland
and offer the joys of international
film to those outside of Reykjavík.
“Now we can bring films to people
in old folks homes, people at sea
and those who are maybe too wor-
ried to go out right now,” she says.
“We will still have some in-person
screenings according to the cur-
rent rules at Bíó Paradís and the
Nordic House, but having it online
means everyone can still have en-
tertainment.”
Buses & kilometres
This year’s programme is just as
diverse as it always is, featuring
documentaries, dramas, come-
dies, horror flicks and short films
from all over the globe.
María particularly recom-
mends Ameen Nayfeh’s ‘200 Me-
ters.’ The movie tells the story of
a Palestinian man living in the
West Bank whose son is in a hos-
pital just over the wall. While they
are only 200 metres apart, getting
to him becomes a 200 kilometre
journey.
“Our selection is always var-
ied,” María says, referencing a host
of other films about everything
from a Michelin chef in Taiwan to
a portrait of Alvar Aalto. “We aim
for something that’s enjoyable to
watch, something surprising and
something that’s maybe contro-
versial. We have many films about
people that live on the edge of so-
ciety, like refugees and more.”
All the classic RIFF events
will be happening, albeit altered
to fit the new format. So you can
expect to catch a half in-person,
half online Industry Days, digital
Q&As and more.
As we’ve come to expect, RIFF
is always pushing the bar and this
year is no different. New on the
roster this year is a cinema bus,
which will prowl the countryside
showcasing RIFF’s offerings to
those outside of the capital. “Dur-
ing the day, we will screen films
for children in the bus or in nearby
schools,” María explains. “In the
evenings, we'll show a film from
the programme—project it on a
wall somewhere so it can be a
drive-in screening.” The bus will
begin its ride on September 17th—
one week before the start of the
festival.
The ideal RIFF night
But how does one best enjoy an
online RIFF flick? Luckily, María
sets the scene for us.
“A RIFF movie night is a good
opportunity to come together with
your inner circle or family. Maybe
you could even make a movie quiz,”
she says. “Just have a cosy night
with a blanket, a cup of tea, lots of
chocolate and perhaps a little red
wine!”
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Film
María Ólafsdóttir
“Now we can
bring films to
people in old
folks homes,
people at sea
and those who
are maybe too
worried to go
out right now.”
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