Amateurs’ Paradise
Showtimes
This new film by Janus Bragi Jakobsson looks behind the camera. Four Icelandic men of different ages have been uploading videos to YouTube for years. What are they really looking at through their cameras? How do they see themselves through the lens?
The oldest of the men, 70-year-old Guðfinnur, has uploaded hundreds of home videos shot by him and his father for everyone to see because he wants his children and grandchildren to experience pieces of the family’s history, from confirmations and Christmas celebrations to potato growing. The youngest, Karl Emil, has documented his life in his video diaries with almost brutal honesty. Everything from loneliness to sexually transmitted diseases, trips to Asia and serious health concerns has ended up on the internet.
The videos are all full of yearning, most of all those of Sævar and Kári. Sævar searches for a deeper connection to the world surrounding him, while Kári is clinging to a career he once let go of.
The documentary contemplates identity, memory, and the framing of one’s own life. The private becomes public, and random moments form pieces of national memory in this celebration of everyday life.
Riikka Haapanen (translated by Mira Sairanen)
Janus Bragi Jakobsson will attend the film screenings on 4 Feb and 5 Feb.
