Reykjavík Grapevine - okt 2020, Qupperneq 22

A Half-Elvish
Film Festival
The Skjaldbor! Film Festival, a!ein! communism
and the history of humanity told from Neptune
Words: Valur Gunnarsson Photo: Still From 'Hálfur álfur'
One might be forgiven for think-
ing that some sort of elven curse
was placed upon this year’s Skjald-
borg Film Festival. For the past 13
years, the festival has showcased
new Icelandic documentaries
at the local cinema of Patreks-
fjör!ur. Usually held in May, this
year it was initially moved to the
first weekend of August due to CO-
VID-19. As it happened, there was
then a COVID surge in August, so
the festival was once-again moved
to mid-September and relocated
to Reykjavík’s newly reopened Bíó
Paradís.
As volunteers worked hard to
get the renovations done in time
for the festival, another COVID
surge began and it seemed the fes-
tival might have to be postponed
again. However, things went for-
ward and Skjaldborg’s first edition
in the big city can be deemed a suc-
cess.
Ageing Communism
As usual, Skjaldborg’s programme
introduced us to hidden worlds in
our midst. In this iteration, we got
ageing communists, the clientele
at a second-hand shop and even
a circus. While the opening film,
‘Aftur heim?’ was about giving
birth at home, if there was an over-
arching theme this year, it was of
saying goodbye. Perhaps this focus
was a hidden sign of an ageing so-
ciety or just very 2020.
A double bill on Saturday after-
noon started with ‘MÍR: Byltingin
lengi lifi,’ about the MÍR Cultural
Centre. The Centre has been show-
ing Russian films in Iceland since
1950—outliving the Soviet Union
by almost 30 years now—and is
still run by the ageing idealists
that founded it. The film was fol-
lowed by ‘Ökukve!ja 010006621,’
a heart-rending story about a
woman learning to let go of driv-
ing as her body deteriorates. The
day closed with ‘Er ást,’ which is
about the widow of beloved artist
"orvaldur "orsteinsson and their
last days together in Antwerpen in
2013.
A history of humanity
The festival closed on Sunday with
the much anticipated ‘Last and
First Men’ by renowned film score
composer Jóhann Jóhannsson,
who died suddenly two years ago
and would have turned 51 during
this year’s festival. A future his-
tory based on a 1930 novel by Olaf
Stapledon, it tells the history of
humanity and its successor spe-
cies for the next two billion years,
largely from its base on Neptune.
While one might think the film
would be prohibitively expensive
to make, instead it’s composed
of actress Tilda Swinton read-
ing from an abridged final chap-
ter of the book as the screen is
filled with images of World War
II monuments from the former
Yugoslavia, themselves part of a
communist world that no longer
exists and that stand in rather well
for large scale science fiction sets.
What at first seems like yet anoth-
er dystopia is actually surprisingly
optimistic and is lent extra pathos
coming, as it is, from beyond the
grave. It is our world still; it’s not
too late to save it.
Half elf
But the jewel in the crown of this
year’s festival was ‘Hálfur álfur,’
which won the Grand Jury Prize.
Here, filmmaker Jón Bjarki Mag-
nússon documents the final days
of his grandfather, leading from
his 100-year birthday to his death.
The film is touching but never
overly sentimental—even very
funny in parts. Saying farewell is a
part of life and we should all hope
for a send-off like this. The title
is a reference to the fact that the
grandfather believed himself to be
a half-elf.
It seems the elves came through
for Skjaldborg after all.
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Film
Just an elf with their cat (right)
“Saying farewell is
a part of life and
we should all hope
for a send-off like
this.”
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