The Reykjavík International Film Festival, RIFF, is among those participating in Kolapse, an online platform designed to foster international dialogue on the climate and social emergency. Artists from different disciplines, activists and leaders will join forces, present their work and participate in discussions about the future of the Earth and the challenges that the coming decades will bring, according to an announcement.
In addition to RIFF, Kolapse is represented by the website Kabinett, which is a platform and community of artists whose goal is to raise awareness, experience a few moments of peace, listen to music, watch films, and take steps forward in the urgent fight for the environment and the social problems that are facing us today.
Started in Argentina
Kolapse begins on November 19th and runs until February 21st of next year and is described as a platform that was created in Argentina about a year ago. Edo Costantini, the director of Kabinett in collaboration with the government of that country, musician Patti Smith and others discussed the current problems facing the world and how Argentina could play a leading role in the fight against these threats.
In a statement, RIFF has emphasized issues like this in its programming in recent years, such as in the Better World category, where the spotlight is always directed at the state of the world and the problems it faces, including climate change. "Can we continue indefinitely as if nothing has happened? Can the earth withstand this onslaught? What is our moral conscience towards ourselves and others? Answers to such questions keep us at RIFF on the subject; our passion is to convey interesting and urgent messages about the state of the world through the screening of selected films and various discussions and events. We believe that a better world is possible and that films can play a key role in that. They have the power to bring about changes that are needed and important," says a statement from RIFF.
Three works
RIFF is presenting three works at the festival, the opening film Last And First Men by Jóhann Jóhannson and an interview with the film's cinematographer, Sturla Brandt Grövlen, about the making of the film. The second film is the Austrian film Earth by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, which was at RIFF last year, and there will also be a TED talk by Andri Snæs Magnason, writer and filmmaker, about his latest book, About Time and Water, which was recorded especially in collaboration with Iceland Naturally in English, as well as a special event About Time and Water with Andri Snæs and Högni Egilsson, which was recorded at the City Theatre last week and is a collaboration with the Nordic Museum in Seattle, USA, and Kolapse. Anní Ólafsdóttir directs the video and Lind Höskuldsdóttir edited it.
More information can be found at wearekabinet.com and here you can see a short trailer for Last and First Men: