The Bountiful Land

The Bustarfell farm in the Nort-East of Iceland

KAM film had the priviledge of doing the color grading and on-line for director Ásdís Thoroddsen’s new documentary for Gjóla Films The Bountiful Land – Icelandic Food Traditions and Food History which had its cinema premiere in Bíó Paradís on October 17th 2019. 

Elín Methúsalemsdóttir

The documentary is about the Icelandic food tradition and the changes that have taken place. The story of Icelandic food is told with the help of late Elín Methúsalemsdóttir who as a child sat at the stone-hearth of her mother in an old turf farm, Bustarfell, where she later took over as the woman of the house herself. In the sixties she moved into a modern house beside the old one. Later her daughter, Björg, took her place at the stove and her grandson is preparing to become the next farmer.

Interestingly one of Konrad’s first film jobs in Iceland was on Ásdís’ 1996 theatrical feature Dream Hunters as an assistant to editor Valdís Óskarsdóttir who cut the film on the EMC2 platform.

This is the third time Konrad & KAM film have had the pleasure of working with Ásdís Thoroddsen but previously they worked on her documentary features Form and Function – Handicraft and  history of the Icelandic National Costume produced by Ásdís for Gjóla Films and We Are Still Here about the problems a small fishing community is facing produced by Hjálmtýr Heiðdal & Heather Millard for Seylan Film Productions. 

60 Hz For 78 Years

This History of the Power Plant on the Military Base at Keflavik Airport

The documentary short “60 Hz For 78 Years” which premiered this past September tells the story of the US operated power plant on the NATO military base at Keflavik Airport in Iceland. Produced and directed by Guðmundur Lýðsson for GL Einstefna ehf. the film was posted at KAM film and edited by Konrad Gylfason.

Director Guðmundur Lýðsson smiling from the great turnout at the premiere.

When the US military began buying electricity from the Icelandic Authorities adjustments had to be made since the Unites States use a different current system from the European one which Iceland used. Interestingly when researching this film, Guðmundur Lýðsson found that the Icelandic Government kept no minutes from its meetings from 1947 until 1964 making it impossible to find out about decisions and deals relating to the selling of electricity to the US military.

Producer/Director Guðmundur Lýðsson appears in the film since he worked at the power plant for years.

Helgi Gíslason – Where the Boundaries Lie

Konrad Gylfason made a short film for sculptor Helgi Gíslason to be shown at his art exhibition at the Ásmundarsalur gallery in Reykjavík this fall.

You can learn more about the exhibition here.

Helgi Gíslason preparing the sculpture for shipping to Sweden.

Konrad has been filming Helgi the past couple of years, for KAM film, documenting the creation of the sculpture “Universe in Human Thought” which was exhibited during the summer of 2018 at the Pilane Sculpture Park in Sweden.

People like that

The 5 part documentary series People like that was shown on state broadcaster RÚV this past month. 

The five 48 minute films, produced & directed by Hrafhildur Gunnarsdóttir for production company Krummafilms, were graded and on-lined at KAM film in addition to a feature length version that premiered at Bíó Paradís called People Like That, 1970-1985 which was nominated for the best documentary at the EDDA Awards 2019 (the Icelandic Film and Television Academy Awards).

Filmmaker Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir started acquiring material for this project as early as 1993 and gives us a unique look in to the life and struggles of Icelandic homosexuals and lesbians fighting for their human rights.

You can watch the trailer (ungraded) here:

Kópavogur Junior College – Elite Athletes

The Kópavogur Junior College (Menntaskólinn í Kópavogi) started registration this past spring for a new Elite Athletes division at the school. KAM film created a short teaser for the program to be used on social media to increase awareness for studies to start this past fall.

It is always a true pleasure to work with talented young people and we look forward to following their success in their individual sports.

Nefertiti – The Lonely Queen, Thessaloniki Premiere

Nefertiti – The Lonely Queen, had its premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in Greece earlier this year.

Who Owns Cultural Heritage?

The documentary Nefertiti the Lonely Queen had its world premiere at the 21st Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece this past March.

Produced by Markell Productions the film was graded by Konrad Gylfason at KAM film. The film by dynamic Markell brothers duo Thorkell Hardarson and Örn Marinó Arnarsson features stories from the world of looted ancient art. Running at 90 minutes and filmed in Iceland, Scandinavia, U.K., Germany, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Iraq it will also be provided as a 3 part, 52 minutes each, television event. Those that saw Feathered Cocaine and Trend Beacons know they’re in for a treat.

You can catch the trailer here:

Iceland Defense Force In the Top 5

The documentary “Varnarliðið – Kaldastríðsútvörður”, (Iceland Defense Force: Cold War Frontier) which KAM film produced with Ljósop ehf., was the fourth most popular Icelandic documentary in Icelandic Cinema in 2018 according to klapptre.is an Icelandic web-medium focusing on film and television news. We’re really proud of this and thank everyone who helped out with the production.

Those that would like to see the English version of this documentary can head over to Vimeo-on-Demand and rent it or to buy. You can find it at: