{"id":57455,"date":"2024-09-30T17:18:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T17:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riff.is\/?p=57455"},"modified":"2024-09-30T17:18:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T17:18:47","slug":"hatidargusa-goggu-jons-vid-getum-ekki-meiri-groundhog-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/hatidargusa-goggu-jons-vid-getum-ekki-meiri-groundhog-day\/","title":{"rendered":"J\u00f3n G\u00f6gga's festive rant: "We can't have more Groundhog Day""},"content":{"rendered":"

The filmmaker Jon's Gag<\/strong> gave a thunderous speech at the RIFF Opening Ceremony last week. There, she reviewed the state of the Icelandic film industry and criticized the government's cuts to the Film Fund. You can read G\u00f6gga's speech here:<\/p>\n

J\u00f3n's festive frenzy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Distinguished guests,<\/p>\n

Recently, news broke of planned cuts to the Icelandic Film Fund. Following this, an email was sent out to professional filmmaking associations with an emergency meeting invitation.<\/p>\n

An unnamed director and screenwriter responded to the post as follows:<\/p>\n

"Dear colleagues<\/p>\n

Sending good vibes this Groundhog Day. 14 years of this shit is taking its toll and I'm holding off this time.<\/p>\n

"Battle greetings"<\/p>\n

There, a man speaks with obvious exhaustion, having spent a large part of his working life trying to gain recognition and understanding from the government of the importance of cinema in Iceland.<\/p>\n

He has not stood alone on the bridge, because filmmakers in Iceland know nothing but to fight for their existence, swallow wood and toast to beautiful election promises, and then wake up to a bad dream when newly appointed ministers and budget committees firmly press the delete button on the Excel file in the name of efficiency.<\/p>\n

It was four years ago that the entire industry was shaken up when a magnificent film strategy was released, the first of its kind, a strategy with ambitious goals that were all to be fulfilled before the year 2030 saw the light of day.<\/p>\n

Finally, politicians with real ambitions had emerged on the scene, people who understood the importance of nurturing and supporting Icelandic filmmaking. People with the political will to execute.<\/p>\n

I'm going to suggest a good strategy here:<\/p>\n

"The Minister of Education, Culture and Sports is embarking on the first comprehensive policy development in the field of film. This decision is a sign of the government's understanding and recognition of the growing role of culture, arts and creative industries in Iceland."<\/p>\n

"As an art form, filmmaking is very accessible to the public and is particularly important in the effort to promote and preserve language, reflect the contemporary world, and make history and cultural sense."<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasures will be taken to strengthen the filmmaking support system and thereby increase the production and development of a wider variety of films than before. The financial contribution to the Film Fund will be increased and a new investment fund for television content will be established.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too good to be true?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, everything seems to point to that. Now, four years later, there is no money to fulfill the promises. And not only that, but cuts are being made, once again.<\/p>\n

More recognition, more actions \u2013 less money. Sound and vision don't mix here.<\/p>\n

Sympathy is not in favor of artists when social infrastructure withers as fast as inflation rises. Do you want a mental health system or an Icelandic film? Arguments like these usually get mixed reviews when it comes to allocating public funds to artists.<\/p>\n

"How is it \u2013 aren't these whining filmmakers getting tax refunds of hundreds of millions?"<\/p>\n

Then we are pitted against each other. Either or. And what loses the most in that battle is society itself, which is nothing without the other.<\/p>\n

The same thing happens internally with us filmmakers. Do we want a high return or do we want to make Icelandic works? Prosperity or prostitution? Industry or art?<\/p>\n

The answer is simple.<\/p>\n

We want both. Because one is nothing without the other. We didn't know we had to choose, because it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the film policy.<\/p>\n

We want to work in filmmaking, we want job security and predictability, but above all we want to tell our stories. It is not enough for Icelandic filmmaking to be a popular filming location, used to tell other people's stories, in other languages. There are not many Icelandic projects that achieve the goal needed to receive a 35% refund. And diverse filmmaking that is accessible to the public is of all kinds and costs all kinds. Diverse filmmaking is created in small companies as well as large ones.<\/p>\n

We need stories in the context of what we are and do, think and dream. Our stories need to reflect ourselves, the past and the future, society and the people. Difficult stories, funny stories, stories based on books, stories that take place in Japan or London, the Westfjords or Mosfellsb\u00e6r.<\/p>\n

And there is also a danger that the cultural legacy that remains will be stories of degenerate stereotypes, something that others want to see and think we are. Others' definition of our culture. The definition of algorithms and tech giants in Iceland.<\/p>\n

Understanding and supporting culture, arts, and creative industries is an integral part of running a community.<\/p>\n

Especially a small community where there is a will to keep the language alive. And that requires funding.<\/p>\n

It's not enough to talk about the nation of stories on a sunny day when we're feeling good. We're not a nation of stories unless we continue to write stories. It's great that Iceland is a desirable film hub on a world scale, behind it lies tireless work and diligence, but we also need to nurture our own culture, it's for the benefit of all of us.<\/p>\n

Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day was stuck there, until he realized what was wrong with him and decided to change himself for the better.<\/p>\n

The government can do this too \u2013 change the law and give us a real promise that film policy is not some political opportunistic decoration but a real recognition of the importance of culture, art, and the creative industries.<\/p>\n

A promise to create a rich film culture, which strengthens the nation's identity.<\/p>\n

I think I speak for many filmmakers when I agree with my battle-weary colleague and say: We can't have another Groundhog Day.<\/p>\n

Finally, I would like to end this on a positive note.<\/p>\n

I am sure that when the great journey of shaping this policy was undertaken, it was done with a whole heart and a desire to see it become a reality. There is still time to fulfill the great and important promises.<\/p>\n

I look forward to hearing the roar in 2030.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kvikmyndager\u00f0arkonan Gagga J\u00f3ns h\u00e9lt \u00ferumandi h\u00e1t\u00ed\u00f0argusu \u00e1 Opnunarh\u00e1t\u00ed\u00f0 RIFF \u00ed s\u00ed\u00f0ustu viku. \u00dear f\u00f3r h\u00fan yfir st\u00f6\u00f0u \u00edslenska kvikmyndageirans og gagnr\u00fdndi ni\u00f0urskur\u00f0 r\u00edkisins \u00ed Kvikmyndasj\u00f3\u00f0. H\u00e9r m\u00e1 lesa r\u00e6\u00f0u G\u00f6ggu: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":940,"featured_media":57457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"categories":[153,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frettir","category-news"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/940"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57463,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57455\/revisions\/57463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riff.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}