Reykjavík Grapevine - apr. 2021, Side 22

Just Say Yes
Oscar nominee Gísli Darri on “Yes-People”
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine Photo: Art Bicnick & Film Still
Gísli Darri Halldórsson, long a
known name in animation in
Iceland and abroad, learned last
month that he is now also an Oscar
nominee for directing, for a short
animated film called “Yes-People”.
The film, which is only about
eight minutes, follows a day in the
life of several characters, whose
separate routines sync beautifully,
even musically. Most striking, the
film is nearly completely silent,
employing small vocalisations and
just one word: “Já”, the Icelandic
word for “yes.”
Saying a lot with a little
The concept is reminiscent of the
old chestnut that you can have an
entire conversation in Icelandic
using only the word “jæja,” a word
whose meaning changes depend-
ing on the tone you use. Gísli Darri
sees the parallels in explaining the
piece’s inspiration.
"I think the seed of the idea was I
was talking to my Irish friends and
they were over for New Years, and I
was explaining this thing with 'já'
and it just made them laugh,” he
tells us. “I studied languages, so
I'm already quite obsessed with
these things. I think it's a bit of a
blur, because there were a lot of
ideas at the same time. It was like
an explosion; it wasn't just about
the languages. It was also about
routines and habits."

“Anyway, it made me think: is it
because our vocabulary is so lim-
ited, that we are more sensitive
to tone?,” Gísli says. “I remember
those thoughts going through
my head, the fact that compared
to French or even English we are
very poor in vocabulary. I'm sure
anyone learning Icelandic has had
this obstacle of 'how do I say this
word in Icelandic?' and you usually
need a sentence to express a word,
unless it's about a type of snow or
something."
Frozen
The nomination for Best Animated
Short Film did catch Gísli Darri by
surprise, in a way.
"I was really surprised by the
nomination, but I had shown the
film by pure chance to a pretty big
producer in the UK, before it even
went into the festival circuit,” Gísli
tells us. “And she pretty much said
immediately, 'You should consider
sending this to the Oscars, I think
it has a huge chance.' I didn't re-
ally believe her. I think I'd already
had five no's from film festivals, so
I was getting a lot of mixed mes-
sages. Also, it was really hard to
gauge the success of the film. It lat-
er got into really good festivals, but
I didn't see it with an audience. So
I was completely clueless. But I did
go through the academy process to
make it eligible. I was just happy
that it was eligible to be honest, and
when it was shortlisted I thought
that was the peak. And then I was
nominated and I was just frozen for
like half an hour afterwards from
shock."
On the horizon
Interestingly, the characters in
“Yes-People” may be making an-
other appearance in a future, per-
haps longer project.
"I wrote a huge story around
these characters, to facilitate the
animation process and make it
more fun and smooth,” he says. “I
know they have a huge backstory
and I know where they're going,
so maybe these characters will be
somewhere in the future. But I do
write a lot, and have many more
ideas, both animated and live ac-
tion. This project was kind of like
an artistic roar. I just wanted peo-
ple to know that I'm a director. I've
been an animator for a long time.
I'm very keen on writing and di-
recting my own things, whether
it's short or long format. I have
ideas and material for both, so I
definitely want to chase that."
The aforementioned key moment
“This project was
kind of like an
artistic roar. I just
wanted people to
know that I'm a
director.”
The Director re-enacting a key moment from the film
Film
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