Arctic Film Festival, or independent films in the North
Interview - Arina Kosareva
Arctic Film Festival is the first and the only northernmost independent international film festival on the planet. Established in 2019 to raise awareness about climate change, it has since then been held in Svalbard’s Longyearbyen – the largest town of the archipelago. On May 13, 2023, the Festival returns there once again, with a carefully curated selection of independent short and feature fiction films and documentaries from all over the world. Apostolia Katsiantridou, the Head of Program for the AFF for the last 3 editions, talked with PRESSET. about the Festival’s history, mission, and nuanced relationship with nature.
The poster of the Arctic Film Festival held in Svalbard on May 13, 2023. Courtesy of the Arctic Film Festival.
A part of a global network of film festivals with a northern twist
Hi, Apostolia, and thank you very much for sitting down with me this afternoon to talk about the Arctic Film Festival!
– Hi, and thank you for having me!
The Arctic Film Festival sounds like an amazing project with a very thought-through concept. Why was it established?
– The Arctic Film Festival is organized by HF Productions, a pioneer organization that runs 25 film festivals in 13 countries aiming to put independent cinema in the foreground and act as a connecting platform for filmmakers and cinephiles. Our vision is to showcase emerging filmmakers and make cinema accessible to people from all walks of life, regardless of their birthplace or social status. The AFF’s main theme is the environment and, more specifically, the effects of climate change on the Earth. The Arctic Circle is warming three times as fast as the global average, being one of the most affected by climate change areas on the planet. According to scientists, this regional warming leads to the continued loss of sea ice and the melting of glaciers and of the Greenland ice cap. Therefore, we established AFF as a safe space to further raise awareness about this serious problem, using the power of cinema to transfer strong messages. Our aim is to spark conversations at the local level and eventually draw the attention of the international community to the consequences of global warming.
Apostolia Katsiantridou, the Head of Program for the AFF since 2019. Photo from Apostolia's private archive.
That’s why you chose Svalbard as the Festival’s home, right?
– Yes, Svalbard is a very unique place both from a geographical perspective and the city’s composition. Longyearbyen, the archipelagos’ main settlement, has approximately 2100 inhabitants from over 50 nationalities and various backgrounds, making it one of the most diverse places on the Earth. Well, we couldn’t have picked a better place to fit the AFF’s core philosophy. And of course, we also wanted to bring cinema to the most remote places in the world, making it accessible to all.
Tell me more about the Longyearbyen kulturhus, where the Festival is held. What is special about this venue?
– Longyearbyen Kulturhus has been the venue for AFF since its first edition, as it is a place that promotes the city’s cultural life and is a meeting point for locals. Part of HF Productions’ core philosophy is to support local cinemas and venues, so all of our festivals take place in historical small cinemas or cultural hubs, and AFF couldn’t be an exception. Longyearbyen Kulturhus is home to a library, a café, and a bar, which serves as the perfect setting for talks and conversations after the screenings. Plus, it features state-of-the-art equipment that offers the captivating cinematic experience we are striving for.
You mentioned that the AFF was first held in 2019, which is pretty much right before the COVID-19 pandemic. Has it affected the Festival in any way?
– Like all festivals and events, the Arctic Film Festival in 2020 had to be postponed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, we held a double edition in 2021, which was a great success, despite our initial worries that more prohibitions could rise due to the pandemic.
I noticed that in previous years the Festival was held in the fall, but in 2023, you moved it to spring. Why?
– We want AFF to act as a meeting point where cinephiles and filmmakers, locals, and foreigners will mingle and network. The dark season in Svalbard lasts from October to February, and during that period the city experiences low temperatures and darkness. While this may be normal in the Arctic, socializing and leaving the warmth of your house is definitely easier when days are lighter and warmer. Plus, when we had our 2022 edition in November, many locals suggested that the sunny winter or polar summer would be more suitable seasons for them to participate. And we couldn’t argue. From now on our Film Festival will be taking place in the spring months.
And what about the length of the Festival itself? In previous years, it took two days, but the 2023 AFF is only one day long. Why such a change?
– As we are in the process of moving the AFF from the winter season to spring, the Arctic Film Festival 2023, which will take place on May 13, 2023, serves more like a transitional step to the Festival’s new era. With AFF22 taking place in November, we thought that running a two-day program in only six months would be an exaggeration and wouldn’t fit the Festival’s character as an annual event. But then again, we couldn’t wait for spring 2024 to return to our favorite place in the Arctic. Therefore, we created a shorter version of AFF23 to introduce it to the local community.
A journey across the globe that zooms in on the Arctic – the 2023 official film selection
Speaking about the 2023 program, you had over 1,000 submissions from 80 countries this year, didn’t you? How did you narrow this number down?
– Yeah, this year we received more than 1000 films from, I think, more than 80 different countries. And the selection process was very difficult for us! The submission opened about a year before the Festival and stayed open for around eight months. While the films were submitted, our pre-selection team of five people watched and assessed them, following the guidelines and criteria for each category that we have. So there was a lot of watching and rating mixed with regular meetings where we discussed the emerging themes and the films that we considered for the selection. The closer we got to the end of the process, the more each member of the programming team fought for their favorite films. [Laughs] It was very interesting and very difficult, but we are now proud to have created a unique selection of 21 nominated films, ten of which will be screened.
Ooofff, from 1,000 submissions to 21 in the official selection, and then further down to 10 that are going to be screened – that’s impressive! How did you make this choice, which films to show to the public and which not?
– Even though all the nominated films are engaging and well-crafted works of art that are definitely worth screening, in the end, it all comes down to creating a sort of story through the screening selection. We want to make a program that flows, that captivates the audience, that takes them on a journey, you know? That’s why when we were developing the screening program, we tried to see which themes in the selected films were connected to or contrasted with each other.
This is a very beautiful metaphor, a journey. How would you describe the journey on which you are taking the audiences of the Arctic Film Festival in 2023?
The program of the 2023 Arctic Film Festival. Courtesy of the Arctic Film Festival.
– There are two parts to this year’s program. In the first slot, “Short films from around the world,” we want to take the audience on an international journey, so we are screening films from Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, and the Netherlands. The intention here was to create a space for escapism from everyday life and showcase different stories from various people. The second part of the journey is called “Exploring the Arctic,” which is divided into two screening slots, with both short and feature films. These films mainly examine the climate change in the Arctic, in its landscape, and how people are tackling these environmental issues. For example, one of the films that our guests are going to see in May, Cape of Wonder by Solene Desbois, a director from France, features a group of teenagers who are going on an expedition in the Arctic. It is contrasted by another film, Saving Glaciers by Ciril Jasbec, a Slovenian filmmaker, about a group of scientists on a mission to try to stop the melting of the glaciers in the Alps. What these two films demonstrate is that even from a young age, no matter what your education level is, everyone can be part of this discourse on the environment and everyone can take part in exploring the Arctic in different ways.
Last year, Sebastian Ziegler, a filmmaker from New Zealand, who now lives in Iceland, was the juror of the Festival. Is he coming back this year, too?
– Unfortunately, no. We are currently working on finding the juries for next year’s edition, aiming to create a diverse panel.
How many guests are you expecting this year?
– A little over a 100, I think. Arctic Film Festival has always been well-received, and year by year it is becoming more well-known in the local community. Our aspiration is to make it an annual event that everyone is looking forward to.
How about those who cannot attend the Festival in person – is there any way they can access the screened films?
– For now we don’t have an online platform, but we're working on finding the best way to make the AFF a hybrid event, in order to offer more people from around the world the chance to see the selected films.
Films vs. nature: rich discussions and sustainability issues
You have already mentioned that climate change is the major part of the mission of the AFF. The Festival is also committed to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Why do you think cinema contributes to the raising of awareness about environmental issues and how does it do it?
– The power of films, especially independent ones, I think, lies in their ability to create a space for discussions on these issues and engage the public at the same time. Unlike mainstream Hollywood films, independent cinema has a greater power to make the audiences reflect on their own actions, on their governments, and on different problems. Whether it is a documentary on the glaciers on the Alps or a story about a person and their relationships, people are moved, and this is very important.
Plus, film festivals are as much about the screenings themselves as about the conversations that happen afterwards. They are as essential as the films. There is a safe space for people to share their thoughts, and we have experienced it firsthand with the Arctic Film Festival. Svalbard is a very diverse place, and we have seen how scientists who live there, for example, and are dealing with climate change basically everyday, discuss their insights with international travelers, and vice versa.
Saving Glaciers by Ciril Jasbec, Slovenia. Courtesy of the Arctic Film Festival.
Speaking about this whole narrative on climate change. Air travel is one of the main contributors to it, and the only way to get to Svalbard is by taking a plane, which means that the organizers of the AFF, filmmakers, and the guests will be inadvertently contributing to the same issue the Festival is bringing into the spotlight. Isn’t it a little contradictory?
– If you only knew how many discussions on it we’ve had throughout these years! I’d say that this is one of the main arguments against film festivals when it comes to the environmental issues.
With the Arctic Film Festival, we try to focus on the discourse we create first and foremost. Discussions on climate change need to happen, and events such as this are necessary in order to raise awareness about the environment.
This doesn’t mean we don’t care about the carbon footprint – quite the opposite, I’d say. We are always trying to find ways to reduce traveling as much as possible, and we are extra careful about our personal footprint when we are in Svalbard. Only people who have to be there actually take the plane, and they do it once a year, just for the Festival. We always try to engage local people in the organization of the AFF, people who are interested in filmmaking and Festival production. We make them a part of our team, and they work with us prior and during the Festival, contributing extensively to its successful completion. We are also grateful to the team of the Longyearbyen kulturhus, where AFF takes place, as it has been immensely helpful in that matter.
Is there anything else that you do to make the AFF more sustainable?
– Several things, yes. We print a limited number of booklets for the Festival, for example, and QRs are used instead, so people are directed to our website to learn more about the program and the films. The majority of our posters are digital, too. This is what we try to incorporate in all of the HF Productions festivals, as a matter of fact.
The future of the Arctic Film Festival
How do you see the future of AFF?
– We would very much like to expand the Festival and connect it to the landscape of Svalbard. It would be very interesting to have screenings outdoors, for example, if the weather conditions allow it. We already have several spaces on our mind, so we’re very much looking forward to the feedback from this year's edition. Another thing we hope to achieve is to create more collaborations and partnerships with local partners such as The University Centre in Svalbard. We’ll be definitely working in these directions.
Wow, it all sounds very promising! Good luck! And one last question before we wrap it up: could you summarize in 2-5 sentences, why people should come to the Arctic Film Festival?
– You will be a part of the Festival which is held in the northernmost venue in the world, which is quite unique. You will watch films that will move you and make you experience different worlds. And most importantly, you will have a chance to connect with local and international cinephiles, discuss climate change issues, and celebrate independent film at the same time.