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Late last year Icelandic filmmakers celebrated the fact that at no other time in our short cinematic history had there been as many films near completion or in active production, despite having been hit with the biggest economic crash in history, see HERE.
Like almost all European filmmakers they rely on government run funds to finance their films, both local and abroad and they knew that there would be some cut backs in that area. What they didn't know was that the film fund would become the sacrificial lamb out of all the cultural funds, theater, the Icelandic symphony and such. While all of the other cultural funds got around a 5% cut in their funding the Icelandic Film Fund took a whooping 35% cut, effectively crippling the small, struggling industry.
No reason has been given for this and filmmakers suspect that the cut has been made with no thought behind it what so ever other than ignorance and cultural arrogance. It's especially strange since for every Krona the fund gives out it comes back three or four times from foreign funds. This is the only cultural industry that brings money in to the country, much more than the government gives out and yet they effectively killed it with one pen stroke, cutting off currency that is so badly needed for our struggling economic environment.
If that wasn't bad enough the CEO of our national television station, the one that is required by law to support local production and the one that has been a critical aspect of getting foreign funding for local filmmakers, made the announcement that they would basically stop buying Icelandic films and documentaries. What this basically means is that Icelandic filmmaking is dead. Without a guaranteed platform for exhibiting their film, filmmakers can forget about applying for foreign funding as it is a requirement for most of them. Stranger yet is that almost no cuts have been made in buying foreign entertainment and sports at the TV station. I guess people need their Ugly Betty.
The government has ridiculously cut off all means of supporting filmmaking without a single thought, while giving the other "high cultures" basically a pass. As I said, nobody responsible has given any reason for this and I suspect that we don't get one. Filmmakers are fed up as all the work that has been done for getting our small industry out of the shadows and getting people to actually watch it has been laid to waste. In 2009 the two most popular films shown in theaters were Icelandic, Johannes and Mr. Bjarnfredarson, the later of which beat the giant behemoth Avatar at the box office. Icelandic TV shows have become the most popular and most talked about on TV so it's very strange indeed that this route has been chosen.
I don't know how the future will be for Icelandic filmmakers, it doesn't look bright at the moment but they are willing to fight for their livelihood. Whether they will be successful remains to be seen.
What's to stop Icelandic filmmakers from getting private funding? If Icelandic films and shows are the most popular, they should be able to get investors because they're proven revenue generators. Hollywood doesn't really get any financial support from the American government, after all.
Oh, really? You'd best take another look at the state funded subsidy and tax credit systems that are in place all over the US to fund film production, not to mention the financial pressure the US puts on foreign trading partners to prevent other countries from putting in screen quota systems to ensure their own product has a place to screen. US pressure is directly responsible for the reduction of the Korean quota system (a system which led directly to the Korean wave of films) and for the absence of a quota system in Canada despite proof in television and radio that the systems work here not by excluding US content (which is still totally dominant) but by carving out at least enough of a niche that there is the guarantee that at least part of the airwaves will get local product instead of bad US reruns. Hollywood gets PLENTY of government support.
It's a real shame, part of the value of a national film industry is pride. People under-estimate the importance of media, for the self-image of a nation. Local art speaks to local people and allows an insight into that culture for outsiders, basically every time a part of nations cultural output is killed off, its a loss everyone inside outside that country. The worlds becomes a little more bland.. I hope this situation changes...