The Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S has announced that Andri Snær Magnason will be the winner of the Kairos Award of 2010. The Award Ceremony will take place at Deutches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, february 28th 2010. 

KAIROS — A European Cultural Prize awarded by the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S.

Since its establishment the foundation has awarded various cultural prizes of different endowment throughout Europe. Reflecting the changing social, political and cultural conditions of contemporary Europe, most of the previous awards were discontinued in favour of one newly conceived and at the same time higher endowed prize. The KAIROS Prize which was first awarded in 2007 represents an innovation within a rather distinguished post-war history of price giving through the foundation. Previous winners of prices initiated by the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. have been, among others, Harold Pinter, Pina Bausch, Samuel Mendes, Imre Kertesz, David Hockney, Cees Nooteboom or, more recently, Olafur Eliasson.

Dreamland will participate in a few nordic film festivals next week and author Andri Snær Magnason will participate in readings, debates and q&a’s after the film.

READING IN HELSINKI THURSDAY

On thursday Andri is having a reading in Helsinki in Nifin. 

DOCPOINT HELSINKI

Dreamland is the opening film of DocPoint Helsinki and is proud to be the opening film of the first DocPoint festival in Tallinn.On Friday Andri Snær Magnason, one of the directors will attend a screening of Dreamland in Helsinki and answer questions from the audience.

GÖTEBORG FILM FESTIVAL

Dreamland has been invited to the Göteborg film festival. Here is some information about the screenings, saturday the 30th of january – (sold out), sunday and monday.

PANEL DISCUSSION GÖTEBORG

On sunday, january 31 at 17:00 there will be a panel discussion based on Dreamland and the film festivals concept, Sharing. Among participants in the panel is mr. K-G Hammar – former Arch Bishop. Here is some information:

Sunday. 31. January. 17.00 Atalante. Sharing: The Resources of nature

The environment is what we all share. The question is how we share it. In his documentary Dreamland, Andri Snær Magnason focuses on the crossroads at which the Icelandic nation stands: should they put their money in the aluminum industry or concentrate on preserving the Icelandic nature? What is the value of a mountain? Snær Magnason´s film serves as a starting point for a panel discussion about the good and bad consequences of globalization, and about the role film and art at large can play in relation to environmental issues. 

Moderator: Anders Johansson, PhD in Literature Panel: Andri Snær Magnason, director, K-G Hammar, Visiting Professor in Theology, Caroline Peterson from the magazine Camino, and Tyrone Martinsson, photographer and researcher. The seminar will be held in English. A co-operation between Göteborg International Filmfestival, Glänta, Göteborgs Fria Tidning and Svenska Kyrkan

In Oslo there is a Human wrongs film festival 3rd – 7th of february 2010 where you can see Dreamland. In Copenhagen there will be a screening the 4th of February 2010 in Nordatlantens brygge. Andri Magnason will attend the screening. 

CINEMA POLITICA

Last but not least – if you are in Canada – screenings by Cinema Politica in University Campuses are going on. Toronto tomorrow. More info here.

Cinema Politica.

Dreamland is being screened in various universities in Canada by Cinema Politica. The film has been very well received by the people of Cinema Politica and call Dreamland, “One of the best environmental films ever made.” - Here is a film review from The Concordian.

Dreamland has been published in Danish by Tiderne Skifter. Here you can see an interview (in English) in the news program Deadline. Dreamland has has also been published in Japan by NHK and the DVD is now available here. Here is more information in Danish about the book – from Tiderne Skifter website:

Hvad sker der på Island? Først et sandt økonomisk mirakel, så det totale krak. Der er vist noget råddent i det islandske samfund!

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Here you can listen to an interview and a poem, by Andri Snær Magnason on Melting Point. As BBC tells us: A feature by Nina Perry exploring the environmental, cultural and musical significance of the icy landscapes of Greenland, Iceland and the Highlands of Scotland. Featuring the words of an Icelandic writer, a Greenlandic fisherman, a drama therapist and an ice-climbing fiddle-playing mountain rescuer interwoven with spectacular recordings of the ice sheet as it calves and a specially composed musical soundscape.

Broadcast on: BBC Radio 3, 9:30pm Saturday 21st November 2009. Duration: 30 minutes. Available online until: 10:02pm Saturday 28th November 2009.

Dreamland by Andri Snær Magnason and Thorfinnur Gudnason will be premiered in IDFA Amsterdam the 24th of November. Dreamland will compete in the main competition of IDFA in the category of feature length documentaries. IDFA is one of the largest documentary festivals in the world. Andri Snær and Thorfinnur will answer questions after the show. Screenings information and film trailer can be seen here.

My newest publication – Rethinking Dreamland – is now to be found the debate forum RETHINK SOCIALITY.

RETHINK is an art project that thematizes climate changes through Nordic and international contemporary art. The project is part of the official cultural programe for COP15 in Copenhagen. REFLECT is RETHINK’s online forum where debaters from the all over the world engage in debates on climate change, art and culture. The writers are artists, philosophers, scientists, politicians and business people with different views and knowledge about how climate change affects the way we live and view the world.

REFLECT presents a broader cultural debate on the consequences of climate change. Climate change is fundamentally interdisciplinary, transcends borders and interfaces with many domains including politics, art, technology, nature, sociality, philosophy etc. The debaters explore how climate change leads to new understandings and definitions of some of these established domains, and how they interfere with one and another. They share their views on the dilemmas confronting our society today.

 Nordic Documentary

Now you can see Dreamland in Reykjavik at the Nordisk Panorama short film and documentary festival. It will be in Regnboginn (Rainbow) theater saturday september 26th at 10 AM and Sunday at 6 PM. Here are the films in the competition: Here is the link to Nordisk Panorama:

Here below is the list of films competing for the prize of Best Nordic Documentary at Nordisk Panorama 2009 in Reykjavik.

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Imagine seeing a tourist promotional video. A beautiful fjord, magnificent Peer Gynt by Grieg soundtrack and you see the slogan: “The worlds most beautiful adventure”. Then you go to Stavanger in Norway – and you take the cruise with Rodne Cruises and they try to recreate exactly the tourist promotional experience – with soundtrack and everything. You get exactly what you payed for – by blasting Grieg – the tourist promotional ad has been “recreated” in reality – it becomes more than reality and better. They totally meet your expectations.

In one of my favorite books, Travels in Hyperreality, Umberto Eco travels through the hyperreality of American Tourist destinations. He describes how reality is recreated in museums, theme parks and the Disneylands of America. How they constantly meet your expectations by creating destinations that are better than art, better than history, more natural than nature. You can see the Venus de Milo, with arms and everything. This also applies to the largest pyramid in the world – it’s in Las Vegas. The goal of the architect was simple – if you have been in the Las Vegas pyramid, you will be disappointed by the pyramids of Egypt.  They will be smaller, less “real”. This video is the Norwegian version of Hyperreality. It is not enough to be actually in “The worlds most beautiful adventure”. You must be stimulated even more – by blasting Greig at 200 decibels – they give you the true Norwegian Fjord experience – the most beautiful moment of your lifetime.