Old Film Clips from All Over Iceland and the North Atlantic

May 10, 2020 3:28 PM

Ísland á filmu (Iceland on Film) is your opportunity to gallivant around Iceland in space and time, via the medium of nearly three hundred old films, of varying age and length, stored and digitized by the Icelandic Film Museum. Many are home movies, but there are also documentaries and newsreel footage. For example, this 1939 black and white clip of a farmer taking care of sheep and horses, a feature length silent color documentary from 1946 about life in Reykjavík, and a 1965 documentary about a hiking trip in the Icelandic highland desert. All this can be navigated from the map of Iceland. If you tire of that particular North Atlantic Island, zoom the map out and you can watch old films from Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Denmark, all from the Danish Film Institue.
posted by Kattullus (5 comments total)

This is such a well-timed post for me!

While stuck at home the past few weeks I've been digitizing Kodachrome slides my grandfather took while living in Iceland in the early 1950s. Just the other day I scanned a few photos of him and some friends skiing at a place that's identified in his notes only as "Ski Club". I hadn't been able to figure out where this was located.

And what's the first thing I see on the map that's linked in the post? A movie called Á SKÍÐUM Í HVERADÖLUM showing people skiing at the same location that's in my grandfather's photos, filmed while he was living there! The lodge didn't turn up in searches I'd previously done but I see it's still there, looking a bit different now.

There are lots of other photos he took of people and places around Iceland in the early 50s that are fascinating to look at, especially now that I have some additional context from this site. Thanks Kattullus!
posted by theory at 9:59 PM on May 10, 2020 [5 favorites]

I liked the vigorous cow-brushing.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:30 AM on May 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

There are lots of lovely little scenes like that. I love the guy striking a pose by the waterfall at the beginning of this 1924 clip. And the puppy at the beginning of this 1950 clip.
posted by Kattullus at 5:40 AM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

It makes want to visit Iceland again!
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:37 AM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Love Iceland.
posted by doctornemo at 11:15 AM on May 11, 2020 [2 favorites]