Author: Valur Gunnarsson
Crisis? What Crisis? The Icelandic Tourism Industry Teeters
In late June, Icelandair reported that it had laid off 20% of its pilots. A few weeks later, it reported…
Bíó Paradís Brings Back The 80s
Theresa May is the new Thatcher. Trump is the new Reagan. Empires are dying in Afghanistan. East-West tensions are running…
Blast From The Past: Introducing Icelandic Wrestling At The Olympics
These days, it seems you can hardly open a paper without news of some Icelandic sporting victories abroad (and do…
Only Mildly Scary: Horror and Icelandic Cinema
On the face of it, Iceland sounds like fertile ground for horror. There are many places where it’s possible to…
The Sound And The Fury: Rammstein Come To Kópavogur
The German language, usually ranked alongside algebra and hangovers as one of the main tormentors of secondary school existence, became…
Blast from the Past: When Contraception Came To Iceland
STDs are on the rise, and the Health Minister has set up a working group which will have delivered their…
Strangers In A Strange Land: The Female German Farmer Invasion Of 1949
It’s strange to think that refugees and economic migrants used to come to Iceland in search of a better life…
The Future is Coming: Electric Cars In Iceland
by Valur Gunnarsson and Andie Sophia Fontaine
Iceland almost always gets better press than it deserves, and this applies not least to environmental issues. While most of…
Blast from the Past: Farmers vs. Phones
by Valur Gunnarsson and Andie Sophia Fontaine
It is a tale often recounted to illustrate the backwardness of Icelandic farmers in times past: that time they rode…
The Last Free Thinker: Polish Cinema At Bíó Paradís
It’s 1945 and the struggle against totalitarianism is just beginning. While the people of Western Europe celebrate the end of…
Blast from the Past: Reykjavík Brothel Shares for Sale
by Valur Gunnarsson and Andie Sophia Fontaine
Everyone knows Ólafur Ólafsson, the man who stole a whole bank during the privatisation rush of the early 2000s by…
Moonage Daydreams: Halldór Eldjárn and Hidden Figures
For eons, mankind dreamed of going to the moon. And we did, but now the memory seems to be slipping…
Blast From The Past: The First Icelandic Sci-Fi
It seems that every space film these days, from ‘Prometheus’ to ‘Oblivion’ to ‘Star Wars’, is shot in Iceland. But…
‘The Apes of Wrath’: Spotting the references in ‘Kong: Skull Island’
If, like me, you felt the only thing missing from ‘Apocalypse Now’ was a big-ass monkey, well, my friend, we…
Blast From The Past: Reykjavík Tarzan Arrested For Nudity
In early 1943, observant Reykvíkingar might have seen a naked man running past their window and even, on occasion, climbing…
Blast from the Past: Boycotting the Girls of Siglufjörður
This March 19 marked the 75th anniversary of the Great Boycott of Siglufjörður women, by the men of said town….
Blast from the Past: The Comedy Ban of 1940
Like most countries, Iceland has a long and illustrious history of censorship. A fun example can be found in the…
The Battle Over Beer
by Valur Gunnarsson and Andie Sophia Fontaine
Iceland’s Parliament is currently debating whether to allow alcohol to be sold in supermarkets, and everyone has a strong opinion…
Stockfish Festival: History Comes Alive in Bíó Paradís
It probably says something about the zeitgeist that, as with the German Film Days, some of the most powerful films…
Learning From War: The German Film Festival Tackles Tough Questions
If there is any theme to this year’s German film days, it is war. Or rather, the consequences of war….
The Beautiful Era Returns to Bíó Paradís
In these Trumpian times, what better way to relax than to take a trip back to the Belle Époque, you…
Medieval Revival: Young Bands Play (Very) Old Songs
Umbra Ensemble is a five-piece band whose repertoire consists of pop songs reaching back a thousand years. Among the newest…
The Gandhi of Punk: Sex Pistols Singer Opens the Icelandic Punk Museum
Johnny Rotten is having a smoke outside Lækjarbrekka, traditionally one of Iceland’s fancier restaurants. It is somehow as I always…
Happening Tonight: Kris Kristofferson
You may know him as the old dude from the Blade movies, as Barbra Streisand’s co-star in ‘A Star is…
Search And Rescue With Tom Cruise
Most Reykvíkingar tend to think that being born outside of the capital is some terrible accident that needs to be…