Staff Pick Premiere: “Whale Valley” — A hauntingly beautiful Cannes Film Festival short about the bond of two brothers

In Iceland, depending on the season, the days or nights can be excruciatingly long. While the sun highlights the pastoral landscapes, the utter lack of it makes the mountainous shadows grow longer and darker. It’s no overstatement to say this affects the moods of the people. For filmmaker Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, who grew up in rural Iceland in a small fishing village, the darkness and the societal pressure to be a “strong” man were isolating. Many in his town and a few friends have succumbed to suicide as a means for escape. For Guðmundsson, he luckily found film as a source of catharsis, using it as a means to filter his feelings. “Whale Valley,” for instance, was manifested from a series of dreams that he experienced. “Whale Valley” opens on an isolated farm in rural Iceland, as a seven-year-old boy accidentally interrupts his older brother’s suicide attempt. Less shocked and more upset, the younger boy reluctantly agrees to keep his brother’s secret in hopes that they’ll reconcile.

With a deft hand and a remarkable sense of mise en scène, Guðmundsson captures lightning in a bottle with these young actors in the rugged landscape of Iceland. Each frame could be a painting, yet the beauty in it is dark, wet and lonesome. Against this backdrop and with the hard physical labor and quiet life of the family, many of the film’s most potent emotions simmer under the surface, never overtly expressed, similar to the boys’ themselves. This stunning short film is now having its online premiere after garnering a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival and won over 50 international awards. After watching the film, be sure to read my interview with director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson below.

Vimeo: As well as directing “Whale Valley” you also wrote the script. Can you talk about where this story came from?

Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson: The story came to me like a poem, glimpses of emotions, moments, visuals and dreams that I wrote down and decided to make into a single story. I’ve had few friends that have taken their own lives so that is the reason why I wanted the film to partly deal with that subject. Also, growing up in Iceland, back then, it was considered a weakness for boys to show their emotions and I think that very much affected me. I learned to keep things in and my escape route became the nature that I would seek to mirror my emotions. Thankfully my mother was always very encouraging, trying to have me talk about my emotions, but still as a grown man I can feel how difficult it is for me to show weakness and art helps me express myself freely.

Like many other Nordic countries, Iceland is dealing with a high suicide rate among its youth as it moves away from its more traditional past. Is this something you were trying to address and in what ways do you think Iceland is changing?

I think this is something that has been in Iceland for a long time and many elements are to blame. The long winter darkness, the lack of emotional support for young boys and probably also the lack of opportunities in small places. But still I also want to say that the society is changing and opening up a lot, both in terms of discussing and admitting these problems. I believe my son’s generation is entering a more emotionally supportive and open society than the one I grew up in.

Does your family have a history in the fjords or in whaling territory?

A big part of my family were fishermen and came from the countryside but none did whaling. I grew up partly in a small village so the countryside has a big part of my heart both with wonderful and difficult moments. I am very grateful for having the chance to experience the countryside as a kid.

The landscape is absolutely stunning. How did you find this farm and countryside? Did you know you wanted it to play such a central role or did that happen while filming?

I saw a photo without a name and I was very fixed on finding that specific farm. We spent many weeks driving between farms trying to find it or another one that felt right. In the end I found the right one and was extremely happy. About the role of the nature I think it was partly there from the script stage but it became clear to me as I storyboarded the film, that this location was playing a very important part in the emotional mirroring of the boys.

Speaking of incredible visuals, how did you get a whale in your movie?

We waited until one would appear. We knew that a whale appeared at least once a year in Iceland and we decided that we were ready to wait up to a year or two for it. To our surprise it arrived before the principle shooting and we rushed in to capture the moment.

Did the whale smell incredibly bad? I can’t even imagine. What was it like to film under those circumstances?

It was a very stormy day and because of the short time I had almost no crew, just a few of us doing everything together on set. It was the most difficult scene in the film and I remember having to ask my 9-year-old actor to keep his eyes open and face relaxed as he looked up into the wind and hard rain and called for his father. We were all wet to the bone and freezing but at the same time the weather made the visuals even more beautiful and we collected such an amazing scene that I could not believe my own eyes.

The relationship between the brothers is fully formed and absolutely captivating within such a short running time and using relatively very little dialogue. How did you go about casting for the film and directing the boys?

I had met Agust, the young boy as he played a small role in my friends film, Runar Runarsson’s Volcano and I knew he would push himself as much as needed. I casted the older boy based on pure instinct. I got a photo of him, dressed in a suit and with short hair, smiling as he was running for class presidency. I was almost angry when I saw it as part of the suggestions, because he looked so far from the part, but at the same time I got a very strong feeling that this was the right boy. It made absolutely no sense to me until I finally meet him and I realized he was a perfect fit. He had a very tender and wide emotional landscape.

Did you have any trouble directing Agust (Ivar), especially around things as sensitive as suicide?

Agust is a very emotionally developed boy so he understood the theme of the film well. The only scenes that were difficult to direct him in were the more physically challenging scenes because there I needed to push him to his limits both emotionally and physically, and that was hard for everybody on set.

After “Whale Valley” you made another short “Ártún,” and now you’re traveling around festivals with your debut feature Heartstone. All of these films touch on many of the same themes of loneliness, isolation and boys coming of age. What about these themes and tackling them in your work is important to you?

For me the themes of the films are very much connected to self-acceptance and being able to express emotions as a young male. I think for young kids, as well as adults, in societies around the world, these are themes that we need to get close to. Also, I remember as a kid and a teenager I always felt like the adults around me had no idea how our world really was. They would underestimate us and our problems and I always wished that I could show them how serious our problem was. Maybe this is a part of why I still feel connected to my youth and want to tell youth stories.

Do you think the short films were a warm up to the feature or did they present their own unique challenges?

I started writing my feature film Heartstone before I did anything else and then I realized I needed to do short films to gain trust to complete the feature-length project. It was hard to go from thinking about feature-length stories into short stories but very joyful and exciting as well. At that time, I realized the power of the short medium by exploring amazing short films by other directors like Lynne Ramsay and Runar Runarsson. “Whale Valley” and “Ártún” are definitely unique challenges on their own but I did make them with the long-term goal of directing Heartstone (so they do connect in some levels).

Are you going to continue to make short films or is your aim purely in feature films?

I think it will always come down to what story I want to tell each time and what length will fit that story.

What are you working on now?

I am writing a new script, which is also about youth, but an extremely different world from anything I have done before. A world that has been hunting my dreams for a long time now, which is both scary and exciting to take on.

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Originally published at Vimeo.com