Next weekend the annual documentary festival in Patreskfjordur, a small fishing village in the North West part of Iceland or
Vestfjordur, takes place over the weekend. Now as some of us here at Surviving Iceland have experienced how to survive Skjaldborg, we‘d like to share our hints and tips for those of you who‘ll travel to Skjaldborg, now and in the future.
First of all, getting there is no easy journey. Either you go to Stykkisholmur and on board the ferry Baldur which can be rough if the sea is in kind of a grumpy mood, or you can go by land which is about a 5 hour drive in a rough part for the last 2 hours, through the fjords and roads that provide a hair-raising experience at times with a crazy driver. Be sure though if you drive there to have a full tank of gas as it can be quite bothersome to run out of gas in the middle of the fjords like a Surviving Iceland staff member once experienced.
Now when you’ve camped, checked in one of the boarding houses there (tip: reserve a couple of weeks in advance) or into the apartment that can be rented from the township, then the festival starts at 8 p.m Friday night. If you‘re lucky you even get a little bit of snow from the whimiscal Icelandic weather. The first night is quite easy: One film from the honorary guest at Skjaldborg with quite a relaxed Q&A which is great for the next event: the local pub. Every filmmaker at Skjaldborg basically meets up there and if Fridrik Thor (director of Oscar nominated film Children of nature) is there, he will be like the old storytellers, sitting with a crowd roaring in laughter at his stories.
Saturday program starts in the morning at 10 a.m. so gorge yourself on good breakfast and get ready for a hefty 12 hour program with 10-15 minutes intermissions every two hours or so and a one and a half hour break near dinner time. At dinner time the Women‘s club in Patró (as Patreksfjordur is often called) serves a couple of tons of plokkfiskur (mashed fish with onions and potatoes) and it‘s free so stuff yourself before the rest of the evening which of course ends at the pub. Be sure to come early as Skjaldborg Saturday has been known to serve some kind of liquour for free, usually something Icelandic that gives a hefty hangover if taken in large quantities.
Sunday is the big day, program starts at 10 in the morning and around 7 P.M. there‘s a break for the fish festival at Pirate‘s house down at the harbor where a variety of sea food will be served and an Icelandic beer for free. Afterwards it‘s the cinema again where people start to vote on which is the best documentary that year - there‘s an old style Icelandic country ball which means plethora of drunken Icelanders and especially Icelandic filmmakers who go haywire in partying during this weekend, and for the brave ones at the ball, you must participate in the Limbo contest if you want to earn the grudging respect of your fellow Skjaldborg attendants.
At Monday morning, a great mist of hangover lies over the town. Then it’s a must to get a breakfast buffet at the Pirate‘s house just to survive the trip out of the town whether you go to Reykjavik or some other place. As you can see, Skjaldborg is about three things: watch a lot of documentaries, eat a lot of fish and party till you fall down.
One final thing must be mentioned. If you see familiar faces from Hollywood, don‘t be alarmed, they‘re just there for the free food and beer.
Here you can find
contact info for the festival. Surviving Iceland will be there, waiting in excitement for the opening documentary,
Feathered cocaine, to start as it has gathered quite a buzz from Documentary festivals in the US.