Universal Cinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie recently interviewed Hrönn Marinósdóttir, the Founder and Director of the Reykjavik International Film Festival. What follows is the interview.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you introduce yourself and tell me about your role in the festival?
Hrönn Marinósdóttir (HM): I’m the director of the Reykjavik International Film Festival. It’s going to be our 20th edition in September. I play various roles for the festival here in Reykjavik and enjoy almost all of them. Probably my favorite is to get the chance to watch so many fantastic films from all over the world. We have a programming committee of five people, and I am one of them. It’s very important for me to take part in the programming committee, and it’s essential to share ideas and get different people from various backgrounds involved in the process of selecting films for the festival to guarantee the diversity of our programming. How we do it is that we all watch the films and then meet regularly to discuss them. We like to have a mixture of audience-pleasing films to attract more audiences and be uplifting since society can be tough at times but also show innovative films and films that touch on important themes that can help our society develop. We choose films that we love, and over time, we build trust with our audience. In Iceland, a rather young audience attends the festival compared to many other festivals. We put effort into thinking about the audience; it’s about the experience and relationship you create between the filmmaker who comes, the festival, and the audience. We love it.
(UM): You mentioned that you have a committee of five who are making the final decision. How are decisions processed?
(HM): Fredéric Boyer, is a very well-known programmer with a lot of experience and knows so much about films. Top notch guy. He’s been working with us for now for several years. He is the Head of Programming. He’s very democratic and eager to hear the opinions of others. And the committee has people of different ages and gender, and we discuss a lot. We meet weekly and discuss how we want to proceed, anybody can bring up an idea, so it’s very open. We are also very lucky to have Ana Catalá as our program manager; she puts so much effort into her work, and it’s really amazing to work with her and the rest of the team. To build a successful festival, the key is to work with motivated people who really understand and want to bring the best to the Icelandic audience and our foreign guests who come to see the films and participate in our industry days or Talent lab workshop.
(UM): And how do you get submissions?
(HM): We have a FilmFreeway as our main submission system, and we receive many suggestions from film institutes and sales agents around the globe.
(UM): Is it through open submission? Or if you see a good movie at a festival, do you invite them?
(HM): Yes, we do it immediately. Frédéric [Boyer] travels a lot. And I live in Iceland; it’s an isolated island, and it’s not easy for me to go away. I do, of course, travel to Berlinale, Cannes and other smaller but fantastic festivals, but Frederic travels everywhere, so we know how the wind is blowing. We follow what is going on. It is also about building good relationships in the film world, for example with distributors, film institutions, etc.
(UM): How important is it to have a crowd-pleaser?
(HM): I think it is an art form to select films. It’s creative work. I like having a broad perspective. It’s important to have crowd-pleasers because it’s good to have a happy audience; the world needs light and warmth nowadays. We want to have a broad perspective and attract more people to come, not only the film enthusiast who spend the 11 days at the festival and compete on how many films they see, try to see 60 films or something. But if you want to get a new audience, it’s important to have crowd-pleasers as well. Maybe you go to the festival for the first time, and you get inspired, “Oh! I saw this great film; maybe I’ll buy another ticket.” And then, I’m not saying that the film selection becomes more pessimistic or darker, but more real, it is life. We want to represent how life is. It’s important to have very different films; some push the limits, and others are really talking to a big audience.
(UM): What about programming films that deal with controversial subjects, like if a film defended against abortion, is that something you would program?
(HM): It’s not about my personal values. I would definitely look at that film with an open mind, and if it’s a good film, then I’d select it. If we think it brings something good to society. Actually, we have a special section of films that have controversial issues, like last year, it was one film about whale killing (A Taste of Whale), but the film tried to explain the situation, pros, and cons. But, of course, the filmmaker sometimes has to take sides. So at least we get to know different points of view. We have discussions after the films, so you go and see the movie, and then you have the opportunity to meet the filmmaker and also some interested group that knows about the subject so you can make a more intelligent decision about the subject.
(UM): You mentioned that in your committee, you have different backgrounds and genders. Right now, I see that diversity has become very important for film festivals, and sometimes you feel that festivals are promoting diversity as a determinant to, for example, quality for them. I’m just curious, how is your festival situated in these kinds of debates about diversity versus quality?
(HM): I would rather say quality. That’s my personal opinion. But of course, we always aim to have and celebrate a diverse program, so we represent different issues from different voices, but I don’t want the quality to suffer, and it’s not necessary. There are enough quality films from diverse voices out there to have a quality program.
(UM): Do you select from certain regions?
(HM): It’s an international festival, so we represent about 50 – 60 countries annually. So, it’s quite a lot, but a lot is from Europe because we get grants from the European Union, and they are clever. They say, Okay, we give you the grant but then at least 70% of the films need to come from European countries, but we try to represent the whole world.
(UM): I have this conversation with others because sometimes, you like a movie, but you see that you already have a movie from the US, or the movie from China, so you cannot program that movie; you want to have a movie from another country. Can we speak about these kinds of considerations that aren’t about quality?
(HM): Well, there are so many films in the world, so it can be hard to select a program because there are so many good films. We try not to let the program suffer from this, I don’t think it does, actually. I mean, Iceland is between the continents, and some people say, and I sort of agree, that Iceland is a bit Americanized. All the cinemas are screening Hollywood films like many other countries; we have a lot of influence from America. And sometimes, I think they forget that we are Europeans. I would like to present European films so we can get to know ourselves better and our different European societies.
(UM): In terms of funding and sponsorship, is it governmental or private?
(HM): It’s a non-profit festival. The foundation is sponsored by the government, the city and Creative Europe. That’s the biggest [backing] that we have, and then we have support from different companies, foundations, and ticket sales, of course.
(UM): In terms of film promotion, if for example, filmmakers come to your festival, how do you try to support the future of the filmmaker? Do you offer any kind of grants or workshops?
(HM): Well, we have a lot of workshops. We have a talent lab taking place during RIFF that’s been going on for many years and is very popular. It is international, so we screen their films, and we help them develop their next project. We have Industry Days, many juries, and many awards for young filmmakers, and we have the main section devoted to young filmmakers- the New Visions section. We do a lot of support. We would like to do more, and if we look at the future, I think we can give a lot in the sense that we can do more to support, we can do more education for the filmmakers, also for the public, and now we focus a lot on the schools. We send films to all the schools in Iceland because, in some parts of Iceland, they don’t have a cinema. They have small towns in the Eastern part of the country, and there are no cinemas there, so we go there, have a cinema fest, travel with the films, and offer the youth- the children to go and see movies.
(UM): I see that you have a background in cinema. Do you work to educate people through having kind of Q & A discussions about the movies to make them understand, for example, to shape their vision about good movies?
(HM): Yes, that’s exactly what we do. We try to invite the filmmakers to come to discuss their work. We have different workshops. We have some for kids; we teach them to make short films, and we have a special one that is for girls especially. So, we take one week to teach them how to make films, and then we screen their films at the festival. We do a lot of things like that; sometimes we have one-minute workshops for students. We do a lot of activities to get to know the film medium, and also, what we like is to connect it to other art forms. So, we have music, we have concerts, we have exhibitions – different kinds of events.
(UM): About the market, do you have any market portion in your festival or are you trying to create any kind of market?
(HM): Well, we have a showcase of Icelandic films, and this year France will be in focus, so we will have a delegation from France to come to our Industry Days and Producers Talk. We also represent Greenland and the Faroe Islands because they are so close to us.
(UM): In terms of Iceland, do you have any special section to promote the works of Iceland filmmakers?
(HM): Yes, we do. We have the Icelandic Panorama. We have presented short films, feature films, and documentaries, which is very important.
(UM): And now, you are in Berlinale and watching the movies. Are there certain festivals you watch closely for selection for your own?
(HM): Yeah. I mean, I like Berlin a lot. We come here and go to many festivals- big ones, small ones- but I will say that Cannes is very important for us. It is one of the best festivals in the world, and it’s in May. We start in September, so it’s the perfect time to see films there and select for our festival. We also have many films from Berlin and other festivals, from a lot comes from Cannes, and then we wait to close the selection until we see what’s going on in Toronto and Venice, and normally we also have films from there. We have a lot of European Premieres at the festival, of course, Icelandic Premieres, and sometimes World Premieres, but for me, it’s not the most important thing. I want to present the best new films.
(UM): In terms of relationship with the streaming, do you have any special policy like Cannes in terms of the streaming, like Netflix or do you access movies from streaming?
(HM): We can do it, but it’s not so easy for us to work with them. And of course, we would not like to have something on the festival already been on Netflix, but my feeling is that those streaming platforms are not interested in the smaller festivals. It is only the big ones like Cannes.
(UM): How has Covid impacted the operations of your festival in terms of online/hybrid format?
(HM): Yeah. We changed a lot. We tried to find new ways to reach audiences. So, we started screening films online. We invited people to go to a cinema bus we had specifically to watch films. It traveled all around the country – and it’s a big bus. It’s like a tourist bus. We put a screen in there. We always had something going on during COVID, but it was of course, a lot more difficult. But I think it was healthy for the festival, and we were using the time to think about how we could develop. Something like the online screenings that we should keep. So it was a way to reflect on your work and how you want to develop it.
(UM): I’ve never been to Iceland, so I don’t have a very clear idea, but what is the city or country’s geographical location? Does it have any impact on your festival and the mode of the presentation?
(HM): It does a lot. When we first started the festival, we were thinking a lot about what is the strategy for the city. What kind of city is it? It is young; it is vibrant. It is unconditional. It is rocky and a bit wild, and we wanted to have the festival in that spirit. We don’t have a red carpet, for example, because it doesn’t suit us. We want to have it vibrant, fresh, and colorful, a little punk. Also, because we have a young audience. But we also appeal to all age groups, still we are very happy with this spirit.
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