WEIRD ISLANDS

Ulster and Iceland: isolated islands with parallel populations, failed industrial infrastructures and emerging wealth in an IT age. Yet Iceland, unlike Ulster, punches far above its weight economically and creatively. Seventh wealthiest country in the world per capita, it can boast homegrown artists like Björk and Sigur Rós and a kids' TV series that airs in over 100 countries. What can Northern Ireland learn from this far-flung island?

There was no mistaking it. The cabbie was definitely an Icelander. I was in Belfast to co-ordinate a gathering of Icelandic and Northern Irish filmmakers, so was already familiar with the accent - yet intrigued by this coincidence.

The cabbie was just as intrigued that I'd identified his nationality. He was married to a Belfast woman he'd met when he first came to work there in 1996. For him, Northern Ireland suited his Icelandic sensibilities very well.

The cabbie incident was confirmation, albeit a minor one, that there are unique cultural connections between Iceland and Ireland - and many of my professional projects throughout 2006 have linked both countries and their creatives together.

"There's a definite connection," according to Ari Magnusson, a guest panellist on our Music Documentary masterclass back in March 2006. "A recent study on the genetic make-up of the first Icelandic settlers tracked the women's DNA to Ireland and Northern Scotland, and the men to Norway."

As the Nordic sailors made their way across the Atlantic in search of new lands, they'd evidently stocked up on female companionship when they hit the Irish shores. "And why wouldn't they," laughs Ari, clearly as charmed by us as his adventurous Viking ancestors were.

"There are huge links between both traditions when it comes to rhymes and hymns," he goes on. "Our head pagan, Hilmar Örm Hilmarsson, traced these links by looking at the traffic that went on between the Vikings and Ireland."

And despite its remote location, Iceland is full of aspirations for its own future. "The place is a lunar desert, in the middle of icy seas," notes Ulsterman Andrew McIlroy, a creative consultant and writer who's spent most of his life living abroad. "Coffee costs four quid a cup, and yet it's brimming with optimism and ideas."

When Andrew was keen to tap into my contacts to organise a study tour to Iceland, I gladly introduced him to Ari and his filmmaking associates. He was organising the tour on behalf of Northern Ireland's Centre for European Cooperation (NICEC), an initiative managed by the University of Ulster's Cultural Studies department.

The four-day trip was packed with visits to government departments, film studios, galleries and artists' workshops. Most importantly it gave us Northern Ireland based creative industry agents an opportunity to really connect with each other as well as be inspired by our Icelandic counterparts.

It certainly strengthened creative links with Ari, who agreed to produce a film for 4Talent Northern Ireland on fellow Icelandic film director Robert Ínge Douglas. With three internationally successful features including Eleven Men Out under his belt, a slate of documentaries in production and a father from Limavaddy, Douglas seemed an apt subject.

He'd returned in the Nineties to read Media Studies at the University of Ulster in Coleraine. Ever since, he regularly engages Northern Irish creatives as part of his production crews and he's determined to make an English language feature set in Northern Ireland at some stage in his career.

Nollaig Ó Fionghaile, programme specialist for NICEC, asked to screen the Robert Douglas film as part of their Creative Industries conference. With Kate Bond's blessing at the University of Ulster's Cultural Studies department, not only did the film get screened but the project flew over both directors as part of an Icelandic delegation contributing to the conference.

Barely the size of Belfast, Iceland has an average income per capita of over $30k - placing it seventh in the world. "It boasts Björk, the Sugar Cubes, Sigur Rós, Lazy Town (one of the world's most successful TV shows) and the internationally renowned contemporary artist Olafur Elliason," reels off Andrew. "So there's a lot going on that can challenge and teach us."

Award-winning dancer and filmmaker Helena Jonsdottir has a corresponding affinity for Ireland. "My great grandmother lived in a place in rural Iceland called Patrick's Ville," she recalls as we meet in Reykjavik. "She had seven children with seven different men, and though she never revealed the identity of any of the fathers I'm convinced that my grandfather was an Irish sailor."

Helena has long been drawn to Ireland, having collaborated with Rose Parkinson, former artistic director of the Galway Arts Festival, back in 2003. She's exhibited as a visual artist and performed in Icelandic-Irish dance theatre productions two years running.

"Icelandic filmmakers are finding ways to produce work that reflects their modern society, whilst returning to their cultural identity and holding on to their traditions," reflects Belfast-born filmmaker Daire Moffat. For him, there's also a geographical link between the countries.

"Both islands are at the ends of the earth - we're the last country before America; they're the last country before Canada," he points out. "We were both rural agricultural economies, and now we've got to diversify and draw from our creative and intellectual industries."

As a former musician, Daire is keen to see creative collaboration follow a musical thread: "There's a commonality of tone production and rhythm, which points to a shared influence in our cultural histories," he observes. "Neither island has its own traditional native instruments. Rather, they've relied on strong oral traditions of song and storytelling."

"It's helpful to engage with filmmakers from other cultures, especially in a place like Iceland," agrees screenwriter Lisa Barra D'Sa. "Lots of our talent flex their initial skills abroad, and then take them back home - that's just what I decided to do, after spending years in London training in screenwriting."

Villi Ragnarsson was one of the co-founders of Iceland's National Film & Television School, and as a result has been mentor to most of the country's cinematic talent. Interestingly, this Oscar-nominated producer has now opted to live and work in Northern Ireland.

"I'd met filmmakers from Northern Ireland in Cannes and Berlin some years back and forged some projects," he reflects. He first came to live and work in Galway in the burgeoning West of Ireland film boom of the mid-Nineties.

"Since then I've met my partner, Maeve McAdam - originally from Cavan and co-founder of ikandi productions," Villi continues. "We decided to move from Galway to Belfast in the past two years, inspired by the opportunities abounding through the Irish Language Broadcasting Fund." The ILBF has already injected new life and vigour into Northern Ireland's TV and film sector with £12million of training and production investment.

A veteran of the international film industry, Villi believes that it's fundamentally language that binds the two countries. "There are huge connections in the way that place names are spelt," he can reveal. "There's the renewed interest in the Irish language through the likes of the ILBF, and that's something that us Icelanders hold very strongly - a commitment to our own language."

ikandi productions have produced some 700 hours of original television in Northern Ireland throughout 2006. A couple of film scripts are in development, and they've successfully sold the format for an innovative animation series. Their open-door approach welcomes new talent, and this in turn invigorates the local production scene.

"It's brilliant to have someone as experienced as Villi ready to share his knowledge with us here in Northern Ireland," says Daire. "He's not necessarily trying to fit into our society. He's absorbing and observing and then makes his comments, which generally are full of hard-earned and welcome wisdom."

In both cultures, according to Andrew McIlroy, there's incredible intellectual independence. "There's a wonderful combination of peasant obtrusiveness and sharp shooting-from-the-hip worldliness that both countries share, yet in Northern Ireland we're more inward looking. Icelanders actively seek to reach out."

"Iceland proves that geographical isolation, cultural specificity and rural poverty are no bar to being a big player on the world stage," he declares. "Their young creatives travel and work abroad - be it Berlin, Seattle, Paris or Oslo. Here in Ulster we're far too caught up in our Anglo-Celtic dichotomy. Our intention is to open little doors to Sweden, Norway and America, and hopefully inspire our creatives to be bolder and more courageous."

Practising what he preaches, Andrew has collaborated with Helena Jonsdottir to run an intensive five-day workshop with contemporary dancers from Northern Ireland. "The aim was to explore the medium through film," he explains. "On a practical level, we're learning through peer groups that connect via wider networks."

"The homestead's definitely called me back," laughs Helena. She's determined to get a series of Icelandic-Irish dance films off the ground: "Silent films with an international language of movement. While we both have native languages and their roots are similar, I'd like to see dance films that explore our shared landscapes and structures with the help of music and ancient cultural connections."

With other exciting projects including Peter Johnson's forthcoming 15-second film festival - which aims to showcase the work of Northern Irish directors alongside their Icelandic counterparts - I'm confident that I'll be spending even more of my professional working life in the company of Icelanders.

Hopefully, to echo Andrew McIlroy, we'll be able to collectively and creatively show our colleagues in the industry that isolation in a globalised community isn't such a bad thing. If Iceland is anything to go by, being off-beat, free and courageous is definitely the way forward.

LINKS

www.channel4.com/4talentni
www.screamingmasterpiece.com
www.lazytown.com
www.this.is/helena
www.olafureliasson.net
www.this.is/klingogbang
www.myspace.com/filmdouglas
www.nicec.ulster.ac.uk
www.niftc.co.uk
www.kvikmyndaskoli.is
www.ikandi.ie
www.15secondfilmfestival.com

Text: Maud Hand
Photography: Villi Ragnarrson