SAGA SHOP - Haust I Fall 2019

38 Icelandair Stopover MY LOCATION: SEASONING THE FILM SET In Hlynur Pálmason’s A White, White Day , the location magic happens when the elements combine to create the perfect setting. BY LISA GAIL SHANNEN. PHOTOS AND STILLS COURTESY OF JOIN MOTION PICTURES. Premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festi- val, the award-winning film A White, White Day —a compelling story of love, loss and revenge—was filmed in several remote loca- tions in the southeast and east of Iceland: places which not only inspired the storyline but, when fused with the elements of time and the weather, play an integral role in portraying the characters and mood. The opening scene, which was recorded in the small village of Höfn í Hornafirði, took two years to film, explains director Hlynur Pálmason, who also grew up there. “The film begins with an accident where the protagonist loses someone he loves. Because of this, I wanted to portray time passing, the temperament of the weather and the changing of the various seasons.” The importance of these elements goes much further in that they explore the interior of his characters by showing the world around them. “Each location has a certain feel and a certain mood, depending on the season and weather. The locations are the bricks of the world you’re trying to create; they’re the world you project the characters and feelings into,” says Hlynur, who also revisited the locations at different times of the year to capture the variations in light and atmosphere. While Höfn provides the leading location for the film, and home of the protagonist, Odds- skarð—a mountain pass with a closed-off tunnel between Eskifjörður and Neskaup- staður—yielded the perfect spot for capturing the old Icelandic proverb referenced in the film title, which describes rare conditions where everything goes white and the borders between the earth and sky become seam- less. “We shot some of the most exciting and demanding scenes there,” Hlynur reveals, especially when they were filming an emotion- ally climactic scene between the main characters Ingimundur and his grandd- aughter, Salka. “It’s set in the old closed-off tunnel at Oddsskarð and filmed in one continuous shot where we follow them from the front as they walk deeper into the dark tunnel. Ingimundur is holding his grandd- aughter while bleeding fiercely from a deep cut on his arm. In this scene, they completely open up towards one another and scream in the dark and listen to their echo. The scene was quite challenging but very enjoyable.” In addition to Oddsskarð, A White, White Day features the fjords of Stöðvarfjörður and Fáskrúðsfjörður in the East Fjords, bringing some of Iceland’s less-visited regions into the spotlight. They’re “all beautiful places and worth visiting, some of them very raw and unspoiled which is quite precious nowadays,” observes Hlynur. While they might not get as much attention as other parts of the country, these evocative settings, seasoned with the elements of weather and time, look complet- ely magical on the big screen, but even more so in reality. Clockwise from top left: Ída Mekkín Hlyns- dóttir as Salka; One of the main locations, outside Höfn; The crew on the move; On location in Stöðvarfjörður; The Oddsskarð tunnel; Preparing for the next shot. Fáskrúðsfjörður n n Stöðvarfjörður n Höfn n Oddsskarð