Government officials are currently planning to cut the Icelandic Film Fund to the tune of 400 million ISK.
Vísir reports that the Budget Optimisation Group is currently looking into cutting the fund by 40%. As would probably be expected, those working in film and the entertainment industry in general are none too pleased.
Hilmar Sigurðsson, chairperson of the Association of Icelandic Film Producers, told reporters that the cuts would mean, very simply, fewer movies. Federation of Icelandic Artists president Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir wrote a column expressing bewilderment with the proposed cuts, pointing out that the creative arts employ thousands, generating about 190 billion ISK per year.
Not everyone in the discussion is on the same page, however. One of the party leaders for the Independence Party, Grímur Gíslasson, contends that cuts should be made to portions of the budget earmarked for cultural aspects, and put it instead towards “the basic services: school, health care and law enforcement”, adding that “We will have little of anything to do with culture if we’re all dead,” thereby probably winning the Most Hyperbolic Rhetoric Award for any politician in Iceland this year.
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