Catalogue of Czech Television Programmes
Icelandic Memory is a 60-minute documentary film by director Pavel Koutecký and script-writer Jan Burian, which was filmed during two trips – in the winter and summer of 2000 – and based on the book by Jan Burian “Saga About a Trip to Iceland”. The film documents the unusual northern mentality and the singular manner of looking at life under the tough natural conditions on this part of our continent. We listen to the members of several Icelandic families, meet an ethnographer, a scientist specializing in genetics, a writer, a butcher, some farmers and their families, students, a pilot, a geologist, a teacher. These people talk about the changes that have taken place on this island during the past century – from the well nigh mediaeval standard of living right up to a highly developed industrial society. Primarily, however, all these people talk about their love of nature, of the natural world. There are quotations from the book Stones Speak by the Icelandic writer Thorbergur Thordarson, we see paintings by Johannes Kjarval and hear music by Jon Leifs and others. The film is much more than a mere travelogue.
SD | 58' | © 2000
director(s): Pavel Koutecký
producer(s): Czech Television, Film a sociologie
scriptwriter(s): Jan Burian
director of photography: Pavel Koutecký
original language: Czech
subtitles available: English