The Iceland Documentary Film Festival, better known as IceDocs, kicks off its fifth edition today, July 19. Based in Akranes (a small village about 50 km south of Reykjavík) and running this year from July 19-23, the festival will open with a screening of Bogna Kowalczyk’s Boylesque. The Polish doc follows queer performer Lulla La Polaca and was world premiered at Toronto’s Hot Docs last year.
The 2023 edition includes a rich programme of docs premiered at festivals such as CPH:DOX, Venice and the Berlinale. Among these are Theo Montoya’s Anhell69, Heba Khaled, Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh’s Under the Sky of Damascus, Matt Sarnecki’s The Killing of a Journalist, Erik Gandini’s After Work, Guy Davidi’s Innocence, Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview, Sarvnik Kaur’s Against the Tide and Mariam Chachia and Nik Voigt’s Magic Night.
Speaking about the festival’s curation process, IceDocs co-founder Ingibjörg Halldórsdóttir tells BDE: “We select films that we think have something new to offer the audience in form or subject. The approach is similar with the industry events. We aim at meaningful discussions for the guests and contact people we think will contribute to the conversation to lead the talks. We are also always learning and like to bring in people that can expose us to new things or ways of thinking about creation and documentary filmmaking.”
Local productions is also a core element within the programme, in particular, two new Icelandic features. The first is Rut Sigurðardóttir’s Skuld, which zooms in on the relationship between the director and her partner Kristján, who looks to address their financial situation when he starts working as an independent fishermen on the eponymous boat. The second is Snorri Már Óttarsson’s Út fyrir rammann, which follows the last 20 years of musicals in Grundaskóli, a primary school based in Akranes. The picture covers the process of their staging, the purpose of such projects, and their influence on students and teachers while pondering the importance of creative projects in the Icelandic school system.
The selection of Icelandic productions is rounded off by a few shorts – Orri Guðmundsson’s Behind the Town, Katrín Rós Harðardóttir and Elinor Vigdís Skúladóttir’s Lífið á stöðinni, Jökla Dagsdóttir and Þórhildur Elín Gunnarsdóttir’s Pétursbúð, and Anna Luiza Einarsdóttir de Oliveira and Eldlilja Kaja Heimisdóttir’s Velkomin í Waldorfsskólann.
On the positioning of Icelandic docs within the Nordic landscape, Halldórsdóttir comments: “There are consistently strong titles being produced in Iceland, I think perhaps we are a bit different from other Nordics as we are an island nation and our films reflect that in subject matters and style, and I mean that only in the best of ways. I believe festivals like Nordisk Panorama and hopefully ours with time, are an important platform for development and distribution of projects.”
In parallel, a series of industry events is planned. The first of these will be a workshop by Boylesque director Bogna Kowalczyk, followed by three Let’s Talk Doc panels covering topics such as creating with archives, finding your narrative path and documentary distribution. Other industry sessions are hosted by film journalist Wendy Mitchell (press and festival strategies), documentary consultant Helle Hansen (project development), Documentary Association of Europe co-founder Brigid O’Shea (who will provide an intro to the organization) and Square Eyes’ Wouter Jansen on collaborating with sales and distribution. The project FILMar from Cinemateca Portuguesa and Iceland on Film will be presented during a dedicated session on 21 July.
Furthermore, IceDocs will also host a jam-packed music programme (including a concert by singer-songwriter Una Torfadóttir), pub quizzes, beach parties, film-related events as well as a dedicated children’s programme.
“The aim is to elevate documentaries as an art form. We want to bring creative docs to the Icelandic audience, establish a hub for international creative documentaries here in Akranes and be a space where local and international filmmakers can form meaningful relationships,” says Halldórsdóttir. “We also want to put a spotlight on the beautiful seaside town of Akranes and all that it has to offer its guests and locals. We started in 2019 with an ambitious programme with over 70 events planned. The past three years made us focus more on local audiences, and we made the programme more linear. We like this format very much as it suits our pace.”
“We hope that we can bring creative documentaries to as many Icelandic viewers as possible as well as be a hub for local filmmakers to connect with the international industry. In the previous years we’ve hosted workshops for works in progress mentored by Marta Andreu and arranged by Yrsa Roca Fannberg, in collaboration with the Association of Icelandic Film Directors and with the support of the Icelandic Film Centre. We hope that the local filmmakers will take active part in our industry events and discussions with our international guests,” ends Halldórsdóttir.
The 5th edition of IceDocs is being held in collaboration with West Iceland Queer Days, an event taking place on the same dates.
