Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.2007, Síða 6

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6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15 December 2007
There’s nothing better than coming across a mysterious package of
videos from Iceland. Perhaps
you know the feeling — it’s
very much like receiving a mas-
sage from an attractive person
while lying on an ember-heated
table in the midst of a snowy
woods at solstice. In any case,
it happened to me recently (the
videos, not the massage, more’s
the pity).
I would be much remiss in
not discussing the creations of
Kristján Loðmfjörð, the Icelan-
dic video artist who made most
of the videos I stumbled across.
One of the two DVDs that had
come into my possession was,
in fact, entirely Loðmfjörð’s
work. It was made up of four
“musicvideos” that had evi-
dently been produced in 2006
and released by Loðmfjörð’s
company, One More Time For
The People. But these were not
music videos — no, they were
more interesting.
They were, it transpired,
strange little movies. Jesús
Guðmundsson was about a
bearded man of great girth who
wears goggles and sits on a
couch, but is occasionally also
seen dressed as an angel. The
fi ve-minute movie appeares to
have been shot on Super 8 mm
fi lm, and features unpredict-
able editing and an alternately
ambient and mildly industrial-
sounding soundtrack. These
last qualities, I would fi nd, are
a Loðmfjörð staple.
Self Pity Waltz is a concise
little number showing a woman
sitting before a vanity mirror,
applying makeup and thinking
ruefully about how she is soon
destined for the nursing home.
Yet she seems much too young
to be having such thoughts.
“I’ll soon turn 40 and my face
will be old and scrambled,”
she thinks. “My children will
force me into care, and I’ll be
forced to socialize with other
old people.” As you can tell, lit-
tle of this makes sense, except
perhaps on an emotional level.
This is one of Loðmfjörð’s
strongest works.
Frank Family, however,
is the best piece on this DVD.
Here we fi nd a dissolute artist
meeting with a transgendered
poet whose book he is meant to
illustrate. The meeting, which is
also attended by one of the art-
ist’s equally roughshod friends,
devolves into disagreement and,
eventually, a drinking party
which at all times threatens to
go horribly off the rails. And yet
it never quite does. A fi ne slice-
of-life documentary snippet,
this six-minute piece is robust
and satisfying.
Last, we fi nd, appropriately
enough, Last Days on T.V. This
is, or was, a dramatic feature
fi lm which Loðmfjörð edited
down to six minutes. He added
new dialogue of his own and
made an entirely new fi lm out
of what appears to be a rather
stodgy policier from the 70s or
80s. This is not a new trick, of
course, but Loðmfjörð pulls it
off nicely.
This was not the only DVD
I came across — but the other
will have to wait for a future
instalment of Lambswool Cine-
ma! I leave you with this appeal:
if you are ever able to catch the
works of Kristján Loðmfjörð,
do not hesitate! And it is entire-
ly possible that you who are in
Winnipeg in May of 2008 will
have such a chance...
Until next time, Lambs-
wool devotees!
Caelum Vatnsdal is a Winni-
peg writer and fi lmmaker of Ice-
landic descent. He is the author
of Kino Delirium: The Films of
Guy Maddin and They Came
From Within: A History of Ca-
nadian Horror Cinema.
LAMBSWOOL
CINEMA
Caelum Vatnsdal
Winnipeg, MB
Th e work of Kristján Loðmfj örð
Calgary Club
celebrates Christmas
Linda Bjarnason
CALGARY, AB — The
Leif Eiriksson Icelandic Club
of Calgary (LEIC) held its an-
nual family Christmas party on
November 24 at the Hungarian
Cultural Club. Attendance was
217, including people from two
to 92 years old.
The evening began with
cocktails and traditional Ice-
landic dishes such as rolled
herring and rúllupylsa served
on brown bread. While guests
enjoyed the appetizers, Master
of Ceremonies Glen Narfason
welcomed everyone and intro-
duced special guests fjallkona
Iris Torfason and her attendants
Jane McReynolds and Kelsey
Shouldice. LEIC President
Brent Grisdale presented Iris
with a lovely bouquet of fl ow-
ers, and thanked her for rep-
resenting the club as fjallkona
this year.
A delicious supper fol-
lowed.
While guests settled in to
relax with coffee and dessert,
the after-dinner program began.
The ever-popular play Have you
seen the Jólasveinar? was led
by Grýla (Gail O’Dwyer) and
Leppaluði (Victor Laxdal), par-
ents of the jólasveinar. Thirteen
“elves” sat on stage, wearing
Icelandic sweaters, toques, and
socks overtop of their Christ-
mas garb, listening to the story
unfold and waiting anxiously
for their turn to participate.
The audience was delighted
with the antics of the children
as each got up on cue, slam-
ming doors, blowing out can-
dles, peeking through windows
and doing all the other mischie-
vous things the jólasveinar are
famous for.
Following the play, children
and adults formed a large circle
around the Christmas tree.
Victor and Marylyn Laxdal
provided the music, while par-
ticipants sang Christmas songs
in both Icelandic and English.
During this sing-along, special
guests Santa (Ron Goodman)
and Mrs. Claus (Carol Finnbo-
gason) arrived, as the children
lined up to tell Santa what they
would like for Christmas and
to receive a special candy bag
from Mrs. Claus. After this,
Bev Johnson and Kelly Flem-
ming presented prizes to the
Tombola (raffl e) winners.
The evening continued with
lively entertainment by Sounds
Unlimited DJ Services. Both
young and old enjoyed dancing
to the music, or settling back in
a quieter location for coffee and
visiting.
PHOTO: KARL TORFASON
From left: Kelsey Shouldice, Jane McReynolds, Iris Torfason
and Brent Grisdale at the LEIC Christmas party.
Editorial and ad deadlines for the next few issues of Lög-
berg-Heimskringla are as follows:
January 15, 2008, Issue 2: deadline is January 7
February 1, 2008, Issue 3: deadline is January 21
February 15, 2008, Issue 4: deadline is February 4
March 1, 2008, Issue 5: deadline is February 19
Writers interested in contributing are invited to contact the
editor at (204) 927-5645. Advertisers are encouraged to con-
tact Catherine Lambertsen McConnell at (204) 927-5643 or
catherine@lh-inc.ca.
Deadlines for L-H Please note
Lögberg-Heimskrinlga
will be closed December
24 – January 1.
We will re-open
January 2.
Gleðileg jól og
farsælt komandi ár!