Kristján Loðmfjörð
Remixing Whales
an interview with Kristján Loðmfjörð, director of ‘Hvalalíf’
‘Hvalalíf’, a remixed version of ‘Nýtt Líf’, Icelandic full feature film from 1983 is featured in Rafskinna’s first edition. A young, Icelandic filmmaker and an editor, Kristján Lodmfjörd, is responsible for this as well as other ‘remixed’ versions of some Icelandic nostalgic visual material. In remixing this works Kristján re-edits pre-existing material, dubs it and adds to it his own soundtrack so it results in a different work with a whole another storyline than the original material.
I was always much more into film then the fine arts but I often found film makers too rigid and academic to my taste so I wanted a fresh perspective and studied art in Netherlands.
On my second year there I came home and needed something to work on and then found an old ‘Nonni and Manni’ videotape that I had taped long time ago in a box at my parents place. I watched it again and was so taken aback that I wanted to work with this material in some way.
What inspired me as well was that I had bought some ‘rip-off’ films on the streets of New York were you could even see the audience walking into the movie theatre and I found this so amusing that I started to think about ‘ripping-off’ a film that was still being showed at the major theatres, edit it my own way and sell that version on the streets. From this idea I started to work on some kind of ‘rip-off’ version of ‘Nonni and Manni’ that is to this day an illegal version because I never got into contact with the director, Ágúst Guðmundsson. I have actually only officially screened it on some mini scale ‘Lortur’ art festival but have been psyching myself up to contact Ágúst to be able to screen it more.
Oberinspektor Stephan Derrick hits the mincing machine
Everybody that saw my ‘Nonni and Manni’ remix really liked it but more on a nostalgic level then just because it is some kind of masterpiece. So I decided next to do a treatment on Derrick (German police TV series popular for years in Iceland) since it was also such a big part of Icelandic TV history. Everybody watched Derrick when I was growing up in Iceland.
I bought a Derrick DVD and was really impressed by one episode where we see a new and bright side of Derrick and he falls in love with a victim. This episode was therefore ideal for me to show give Derrick a whole new perspective. I dwell on this idea for quite some time and this is probably the best crafted remix that I have made but I didn’t get permission for it so ‘Hvalalíf’ is the first legal remix that I have ever done.
The Secret life of Whale killers
I don’t really remember why I approached the ‘Nýtt Líf’ remix with this whale theme in mind. It has probably to do with the strange dialogue that had been going on in Iceland about the decision of starting to hunt whales again. Everybody suddenly panicked and thought that the whole world was going to boycott everything Icelandic but you could see that this was only a temporary reaction.
I lived in the basement of Þráinn Bertelsson (director of ‘Nýtt Líf’) at the time and since his office was above mine I could always hear squeak in his chair when he was working so the author was always present and watching over me which was really a special kind of pressure but also just very funny.
Þráinn liked this idea of mine from the beginning but I hadn’t thought of any special theme. I started by working on the montage, editing scenes and imaging what the characters were talking about and therefore the editing probably is more stylised in this movie than in other remix work that I have done. In my first draft I had several different ideas about in what direction I should take this and then I invited Þráinn to take a look at it and he spotted some allusions to whales immediately and from then on just wanted this to become a one big whale joke.
We both liked the idea of include some kind of ‘Gerpla’ element in the plot where the two warriors are very keen on slaying some whales without noticing that it has gone completely out of style. I worked on this idea for a week and when Þráinn saw the results he consented it so I kept on working in that direction.
Nýtt Líf also has this nostalgic element I am always looking for, the movie is an Icelandic cult classic and I really wanted to do the material a just treatment even though the plot is nonsense. Even when I am doing remixes without permission I want to please the original author. When I did ‘Nonni and Manni’ I was always somehow sure all the time that I was pleasing the original director even if I didn’t have the gut to ask for permission
I want to do some more remixes and from Icelandic source material. I really got into the groove when I was remixing ‘Nýtt Líf’ and wanted to do a whole series with different Icelandic directors. It should be easier now that one director has acknowledged this method because directors might either like this approach or just take it personally and think that I am intentionally ruining his work. Which is ridiculous because I am just doing something new out of it. This project has to be taken on as a hobby of mine and be done just for fun. I can’t see me doing this as a full time job with a budget and deadlines. Then I have also ruined this nostalgic factor that has to be there.
Whale slaying, for or against?
I really like the taste of whale meat but if the hunting them infuriates so many then we can just as well skip it. I am diplomatic in that sense, I can just give in easily on the issue and it doesn’t touch me that much.
In doing ‘Hvalalíf’ it was great to be able to do something that comments on a political hot potatoes without taking any kind of political stance because that leaves you with much more freedom. That is why I allow myself just like in so many other issues to be neutral in order to leave a much bigger critical space to exercise your judgement from.