HERITAGE CORNER
17th of June 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of Iceland’s independence. In honor of this milestone, Stockfish FIF will host a special Heritage Film Corner. Curated by The National Film Archive of Iceland.
Open Talks with directors will take place after screenings.
The heritage corner includes two remarkable Iceland films that have not been seen on screen for many years, Cold Fever (Á Köldum Klaka, 1995) directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson and Á Hjara Veraldar (1983) directed by Kristín Jóhannesdóttir. In addition to this there will be a guided archive screening led by film curator and specialist from the Icelandic Film Archive, Gunnar Tómas Kristófersson.
Cold fever (á köldum klaka,1995)
Directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
Atsushi Hirata, a young Tokyo executive, is looking forward to his yearly holiday playing golf in Hawaii. His plans change suddenly when his grandfather convinces him that he should perform a memorial service for Atsushi’s parents at the spot where they died: a remote river in Iceland.
rainbow´s end (á hjara veraldar 1983)
Directed by Kristín Jóhannesdóttir
In Iceland, on the borders of the inhabitable world, three people are searching for the rainbow’s end, groping towards the frontiers of their dreams and aspirations: the mother, who never became a singer, eking out a living by knitting; the daughter, embarking on a brilliant parliamentary career only to find herself campaigning to flood her ancestral home, the valley where her mother was born; and the son, living a marginal existence which for him has become reality, and resorting to the occult in order to regain his lover, who has been driven to suicide by despair.
Separated from each other by their situations and yet thrust together by the impetus of their lives, these three wage a bitter struggle marked by memories and forebodings. The mother is haunted by an insistent past which pervades her present: the daughter is torn by a boundless energy which she cannot channel: while the son, befogged by his consuming faith in the irrational, attempts in despair to recover from death the forces of love and life. At the focus of these two domains, the supernatural and the powers of nature combine to weave their destinies.
Guided archive screening
Vigfús Sigurgeirsson was one of the first Icelandic filmmakers to make promotional films about Iceland for foreign audiences and potential tourists. His films depicted a nation in search of independence. After the establishment of the democracy in 1944 Vigfus had great influence on how the newly formed office of the President was interpreted as the office’s special photographer. Vigfús’s important contribution to the nation’s cultural heritage was multifaceted as he preserved many disappearing aspects of Icelandic society on film in his heritage films in the 50’s. His pictures span a wide period in the mid-20th century and show society growing and prospering through important events and beautiful portraits.