[still from Heima courtesy the filmmakers]
The contemporary art web magazine DailyServing recently published an extensive interview with Package Deals. Read more about the project here.
PACKAGE DEALS IN TORONTO
March 13: Cumberland Theatre
159 Cumberland St. (at Avenue Rd.)
(416) 964-9359
6:30pm: Children (dir. Ragnar Bragason, 2006)
8:15pm: Heima (dir. Dean DeBlois, 2007)
$10 in advance at Rotate This (620 Queen St. W) or through TicketWeb, and $12 day of show.
March 15: Drake Underground
1150 Queen St W.
(416) 531-5042
7:30pm: Cold Hearts Revisited: New Short Films and Music Videos from Iceland
FREE
Torontonians get the chance to experience A Taste of Iceland from March 10th – 16th to celebrate the launch of the first ever non-stop flights between Toronto and Reykjavík beginning May 2nd on Icelandair. A Taste of Iceland is a weeklong cultural program hosted by Iceland Naturally, with a variety of events including free live concerts, film screenings, and collaborations with Toronto chefs. Read more info about the various events here.
A handful of feature films will be screened in Toronto during the festival. The film Children (Börn), by well-known Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason, is a compelling look at a group of dysfunctional people in Reykjavík. Shot in beautifully stylized black and white, which complements the film's dark atmosphere, the story’s unexpected twists and turns lead to a provocative denouement. The film was awarded the Best Screenplay award at the 2006 Edda Awards, Iceland’s equivalent of the Academy Awards, in 2006. This screening marks the Toronto premiere of Children (Börn).
The new acclaimed film Heima will also be screening as part of the Taste of Iceland festival. Directed by Ottawa native Dean DeBlois, Heima—which translates as both “at home” and “homeland”—chronicles a series of free concerts that Sigur Rós, Iceland's biggest musical export after Björk, played in their native Iceland in the summer of 2006. The film provides unique insights into one of the world's most fascinating and inscrutable bands, captured live while exploring their natural habitat—the mysterious, otherworldly landscape of Iceland—like never before.
Both films will screen at the Cumberland Theatre on Bloor St. Children will air at 6:30pm and Heima at 8:15pm, both on Thursday, March 13. Tickets are $10 in advance at Rotate This (620 Queen St. W) or through TicketWeb, and $12 day of show.
Finally, on Saturday, March 15 at 7:30pm, catch Cold Hearts Revisited, Package Deals' collection of new short films and music videos from Iceland, at the Drake Underground. FREE
Package Deals and Scandinavia House present Sigur Ros's Heima
SOLD OUT
We screened Sigur Rós's wonderful documentary Heima at Scandinavia House on February 23. Free drinks and music videos were included for your filmgoing pleasure.
February 23, 7pm
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
NYC
www.scandinaviahouse.org
Directed by Dean DeBlois, Heima—which translates as both "at home" and "homeland"— chronicles a series of free concerts Sigur Rós, Iceland's biggest musical export after Björk, played in their native Iceland in the summer of 2006. The film provides unique insights into one of the world's most fascinating and inscrutable bands captured live while exploring their natural habitat—the mysterious, otherworldly landscape of Iceland—like never before. They played in deserted fish factories, outsider art follies, far-flung community halls, sylvan fields, darkened caves, and the huge, horseshoe-shaped Ásbyrgi Canyon (formed, legend has it, by the hoofprint of Odin's six-legged horse Sleipnir). Material from all four of the band's albums is featured, including many rare and notable moments. Among these are a heart-stopping rendition of the previously unreleased "Guitardjamm" filmed inside a derelict herring oil tank in the far West Fjords; a windblown, one-mic recording of Vaka shot at a dam protest camp subsequently drowned by rising water; and first-time acoustic versions of such rare live beauties as "Staralfur," "Agaetis Byrjun," and "Von."
Loosely following a documentary format, Heima serves as an alternative primer for Iceland the country, which is revealed as less a stag party destination-du-jour than a desolate, magical place where humans have little right to trespass. The question of the way Sigur Rós's music relates to, and is influenced by, their environment has been reduced to a journalistic cliché about glacial majesty and fire and ice, but there is no doubt that the band is inextricably linked to the land in which they were forged.
91 min. Reception sponsored by Reyka Vodka.
Arrive early to see Sigur Rós music videos on the big screen starting at 6:30 pm.
Cost: $10
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/programs.html#films
Coming later in 2008: PD:Japan, PD:Australia, and more!
