Documental de Sagas

EN ISLANDIA:
..."documentary about Iceland’s history and the Icelandic Sagas scheduled to
premiere in Reykjavík this fall. Since summer 2006, the crew of the Austrian film production company Wokafilm has traveled around Iceland to shoot Vikings in their natural habitat.

Narration by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir. Photos courtesy of Wokafilm and the Settlement Center in Borgarnes.

Sagas of Iceland is a three part documentary, separated into the Immemorial Time, the Settlement and the Sagas. Producer Gabriela Kafka said she and her crew soon realized that it was impossible to tell the Sagas without the history of Iceland or Norse mythology.

According to Kafka, the ascent to Walhalla, belief in dwarfs and the faith in heathen gods characterized the life of the Nordic people in medieval times. The crew worked closely with historians to provide an accurate account of Iceland’s past, and to give the characters of the sagas a “touch of reality,” all the actors are Icelandic.

The movie, which will be released on DVD in Icelandic, German and English, is meant to capture the invasion of the Vikings as well as the daily life and social order of the Icelandic settlers and their descendants. And, most importantly, bring the Icelandic Sagas to the world, because, in Kafka’s view, the sagas are told in “unequalled literary perfection.”

The Wokafilm crew, comprised of Kafka, her husband Herbert and their two sons, Matthias and Andreas – descendants of Czech writer Franz Kafka – traveled around Iceland to shoot scenes from 12 Icelandic Sagas, including Njáls Saga and Egils Saga, in locations like Mt. Herdubreid in the central highlands, Thingeyrar in northwest Iceland, Stykkishólmur on Snaefellsnes peninsula and in the Settlement Center in Borgarnes, west Iceland.

The Settlement Center, a refurbished warehouse and one of the oldest buildings in Borgarnes, houses two major exhibitions: The Settlement of Iceland and The Saga of Egill Skallagrímsson. On the upper floor of the center is a performance space, The Saga Loft, where storytellers recite and theatrical events are staged.


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