LANDS OF ICE, FIRE AND FRONTIERS

A window on Northern cinema.

LANDS OF ICE, FIRE AND FRONTIERS will be this year dedicated to some of the latest productions of North Europe, from historical documentary films to music videos, animation and shorts. Three documentaries and three short films, extremely different one from the other: an open window on the most recent artistic and documentary works conceived and created at the farthest north of Europe, a region where independent and experimental studios and centres have mushroomed, but where the Hollywood film industry has also landed.
Most of the works we’ve selected for this window come from the last edition of the Nordisk Film Festival, the major North European festival of independent and experimental cinema, in an effort to offer a vision of the latest trends.
It is the case “Jerusalem My Love”, direct by the Danish Jeppe Rønde, which will have its Italian première at the Tekfestival. Winner of a special award at the Nordisk Film Festival, the film is the author’s introspective visit to the city of Jerusalem, to its religions and contradictions. A wonderful picture, where the tragedies and contradictions of the city that gave birth to all religions enter beautifully in symbiosis with the author’s quest for a role and an identity within the city and his inner self. A cryptic and introspective work, in the best North European tradition, masterly shot in a city that is full of magic.

A similar introspective nature emerges from the extraordinary documentary “Inner Part of an Animal Structure - The Making of Medulla", directed by Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, Iceland. An intimate portrait of the singer Björk while she was recording ‘Medulla’, her last album, which also shows the extraordinary vocal performances of the other artists involved in the making of the album and their extraordinary vocal performances. The sounds they make, and the moments and people that create them, represent the harmonic ground of the video and of Björk’s work - and the film is shot with a delicate but expert eye. A very interesting documentary work, extremely refined in its sound and graphics editing.
Also the documentary “Punk in Iceland” by Örn Marinó Arnarson will have its Italian premiere at the Festival. An interesting work, rich in historic images and interviews that were never previously released.
The film tells the history of a movement of the late 70s, right in the middle of the cold war , of the American military control on the land, and at a moment in which the Iceland’s government was attempting to establish prohibitionist policies.
The contrast between reality and this new form of repression creates a deep fracture within the cultural and young people’s communities, in a country that has long since been at the forefront of musical, cinematographic and artistic experimentation. A work which openly follows the stream of the great independent director Thor Fridriksson (some cuts of his film Rock in Iceland, 1982, are shown in the film), an artist who’s been promoting and producing the most interesting cooperative works both within Iceland and at international level.
We then recommend you the short ‘Money’ by Sævar Sigurðsson. The shooting and editing are very dynamic, while telling a simple and everyday story. Winner of many awards in both Iceland and abroad, it is directed by one of the most interesting filmmakers in the Iceland’s television and cinema industry.