Reykjavík Grapevine - jun 2023, Qupperneq 17

17 Culture
to the early 2000s when one of the
festival founders came across the
town’s beautiful cinema, Skjaldbor-
garbíó, on a trip to Patreksfjörður.
“It’s been a filmmakers festival. It’s
always run by filmmakers,” says Kar-
na. In 2023, the festival’s jury mem-
bers included producer Anton Máni
Svansson, choreographer and visual
artist Margrét Bjarnadóttir and doc-
umentary filmmaker and anthropol-
ogist Jón Bjarki Magnússon. “Some
of the founders are still involved. We
have a really solid group of people
that we can call for opinions,” Karna
explains.
CONNECTING THROUGH
DOCUMENTARIES
While the number of people who
can visit Skjaldborg is limited to the
seating capacity of the cinema, the
organisers make efforts to attract as
many locals as possible. “Inclusivity
is really important to us,” says Kristín
Andrea. “From the beginning of
the festival, all the screenings have
been free to encourage people from
here to pop in for a screening or two,
even though they may not be able to
come for the whole weekend.”
“We also get regulars that come
every year from Reykjavík and from
other places. It’s not only filmmak-
ers, it’s also documentary lovers.
This festival has definitely created
more appreciation for the documen-
tary form in Patreksfjörður and the
surrounding area,” adds Karna, em-
phasising that Skjaldborg also draws
visitors from Ísafjörður, Flateyri and
other towns scattered throughout
the Westfjords and Snæfellsnes
peninsula.
The importance of Skjaldborg for
this community is evident from the
fact that there are hardly ever any
empty seats in the cinema. As we
wait for the closing film to begin, I
take a peek outside and see crowds
of people strolling along Aðalstræti,
heading towards Skjaldborgarbíó. It
feels as though at least one person
from every single house in Patreks-
fjörður is participating in the festival
in one way or another.
A QUALITY REVOLUTION
In terms of film programming,
Skjaldborg is unique because it
relies on one cinema. “It’s linear
programming — a shared experience
from start to finish. This is quite a
different experience from other fes-
tivals,” says Karna.
The Icelandic film industry has
developed a lot since the festival
began, Karna stresses. “We’ve been
seeing huge changes — more films
are being made by a more diverse
group of people. The quality is also
increasing.”
What makes the 2023 programme
special is how intimate the stories
are, regardless if it’s a short film or
a full length documentary. “Deeply
intimate, but very much feel good,”
Kristín Andrea adds. The Audi-
ence Award, known as the Einar
and named after a local carpen-
ter who has been crafting it since
the festival’s inception, this year
went to Heimaleikurinn (The Home
Game) directed by Smári Gunnars-
son and Logi Sigursveinsson. The
doc is a cheerful story of a football
team, destined to fail, but ultimate-
ly successful. Once you see the
audience’s reaction to the movie at
Skjaldborgarbíó, you are once again
reminded that Icelanders really
like football. The film gets a roaring
applause, followed by a soundtrack
performed on the cinema’s stage by
a rap duo. What else could you want?
Soviet Barbara, a film by Gaukur
Úlfarsson, received Skjaldborg’s Jury
Award. The film follows contempo-
rary artist h hhRagnar Kjartansson
on a trip to Moscow for an ambitious
exhibition that faces censorship until
the artist makes the decision to can-
cel the exhibition on the day Russia
invades Ukraine. Skuld (For the Love
of Cod) received the special men-
tion of the festival. It follows a couple
through their journey of starting in
the fishing industry.
In addition to showcasing Icelandic
documentaries and works-in-pro-
gress, Skjaldborg takes great care
in selecting guest filmmakers for
the festival. After attending several
screenings and artist talks with the
2023 guests — Corinne van Egeraat
and Petr Lom, one starts to truly
appreciate the universality of hu-
man beings, regardless of whether
the movie was filmed in Iceland or
Myanmar.
“The most drastic change to the
festival was back in 2017, when we
started the Jury Award,” says Kristín
Andrea. “From the beginning, the
Audience Award has been the only
award. What we brought along with
it was the prize money.” She em-
phasises that the prize money gives
aspiring filmmakers a long-awaited
boost for their projects. In 2023, the
two winning films received 500,000
ISK for equipment rental from KUKL
and 250,000 ISK for post-production
services from Trickshot.
THE HEARTBEAT OF
SKJALDBORG
While one might agree the heart of
Skjaldborg is Skjaldborgarbíó, it’s
the people who visit the festival who
truly make its heart beat. “Skjaldborg
is about just being here together
and talking,” says Karna. “This is the
beauty of Skjaldborg — the conver-
sation that happens.”
“You can’t explain Skjaldborg to
anybody, only those who have been
here,” adds Kristín Andrea. Skjald-
borg has everything: local boys nev-
er missing a single screening (how
does one even get kids interested
in documentaries?!), local women
making enough plokkfiskur to feed
even the hungriest moviegoers,
not one, but two fish parties (forget
popcorn, it’s all about cod), a parade
that takes over the town with festival
flags dancing under the midnight
sun, locals opening their doors to
greet the festival crowd, a limbo
stick carefully boxed in the cinema
until next year’s competition, and a
conga dance that circles around the
town’s community building like an
organism of its own.
Just come and see for yourself. This
is Skjaldborg!

H E I

Ð I

Fiber Art
Exhibition
June 3 – June 27
Inspired by
Icelandic Nature
By Textile Artist
Heidi Strand
Listhús Ófeigs
Skólavörðustígur 5
101 Reykjavík
Opening hours:
Mon – Fri 10AM – 6PM
Sat 11AM – 4PM
Free Entry
You can’t explain Skjaldborg to
anybody.