Reykjavík Grapevine - Sep 2021, Page 22

Return Of The
RIFF
The Reykjavík International Film Festival
bounces back
Words: John Pearson Photo: Supplied by RIFF
This September sees the return of
Iceland’s leading celebration of cin-
ema to its more familiar format,
following a year of pandemic-en-
forced suspended animation.
In 2020, the Reykjavík Interna-
tional Film Festival (RIFF) rode
out the viral waves by taking to
the streets—and to the digital
streams—to reach an Icelandic
public unable to gather in cinemas.
The RIFF Bus roved the land, car-
rying its programme of children’s
films and independent flicks to
communities beyond the capital,
and allowing regional audiences
to experience the safely isolated
delights of a drive-in cinema.
Meanwhile RIFF Home, the
festival’s online offering, allowed
viewers to take it all in from their
couch: a particularly attractive
proposition given that you can
make your own popcorn, and pause
that Belgian art house classic while
you nip out to the loo.
Back to the bíó
However now that the festival can
return to physical venues, it will
be bringing this year’s offerings—
which will have a focus on Dutch
cinema and film music—to such
locations as Bíó Paradís and The
Nordic House. But the bolstered
online element will remain, and
there will be special events in
Reykjavík and beyond, including
screenings in a cave and the return
of the RIFF drive-in cinema expe-
rience.
Since its inception in 2004,
RIFF has not only brought fine
cinema to the masses; it has also
developed a purpose as patron of
the cinematic creative community.
Alongside Industry Days, (RIFF’s
networking and learning events for
cinema professionals), the festival
runs The Talent Lab, a programme
for emerging film creatives who
are just starting their journey.
Participants have the chance for
their short film to feature in the
festival’s official program, and to
be in the running for RIFF’s prized
Golden Egg award. And then there’s
RIFF4Future, the festival’s innova-
tive three-day workshop for young
Nordic filmmakers.
Three to see
Over its eleven-day run, RIFF 2021
will screen more than 180 films
from around the world. To help you
choose from this cinematic cornu-
copia, The Grapevine has picked
three favourites from the festivi-
ties.
The School Of Housewives
Year: 2020
Director: Stefanía Thors

This gentle and fascinating docu-
mentary made a splash at last year's
festival, going on to represent Ice-
land at this year’s BBC LongShots
international film competition.
Although technically not a part
of RIFF 2021, its insights into Ice-
landic culture make it compulsory
viewing for anyone who missed it
last year.
The story is about a school in
Reykjavík that has taught tradi-
tional domestic crafts to aspiring
housewives since 1942. The school
has moved with the times and now
accepts male pupils—artist Rag-
nar Kjartansson is a high-profile
alumnus—but its future is never
secure, as Icelandic social fashions
ebb and flow around it.
Zinder
Year: 2021
Director: Aicha Macky

The director shines a light on her
hometown of Zinder in Niger,
where “Palais”—gangs feared by
the local community—hold sway.
But some of these young men are
trying to break free from the trap
of jobless violence. Macky’s film
peels back their bravado, often
revealing desperate but hopeful
youths in search of dignity.

Sisters With Transistors
Year: 2020
Director: Lisa Rovner

The role played by female innova-
tors in the field of electronic mu-
sic often lies underexplored, other
than when BBC-based titans Daph-
ne Oram and Delia Derbyshire are
(quite rightly) pushed to the front.
This engaging documentary
spreads the electronic net much
wider, bringing to the fore other
women who pushed the boundaries
as composers, musicians and engi-
neers to shape the soundscapes we
take for granted today.
Do you even li& motorbikes, bro?
Film
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