Lights, camera, action: Reykjavík steals the (awards) show

All the world was a stage at Harpa Conference and Concert Hall, which hosted the long-awaited in-person return of the European Film Awards in December. After two years fraught by the pandemic, 10 December 2022, saw the 35th edition of the European Film Awards take place in Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavík. While the ceremony was taking place at Harpa Conference and Concert Hall, the city staged several related activities. The 35th European Film Awards ceremony For Reykjavík, a modern city steeped in history and surrounded by unique nature, the European Film Awards offered an opportunity to promote Icelandic art, culture, and design. It also marketed Iceland as a destination for film productions – having already seen the likes of James Bond, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones. For the organisers of the event, the fact that the awards were be held in Reykjavík was an important recognition for the flourishing Icelandic film industry, adding to the island’s travel allure. The European Film Forest To mark the European Film Awards, an ‘EFA forest’ of 3,750 trees was planted in the nearby Heiðmörk Nature Reserve in July 2020 by the Reykjavík Forest Association and the Icelandic film community. The project initially aimed to offset the carbon emissions from business travel and has, to date, planted over 3,000 trees with the help of its Icelandic partners and Academy members. Roll out the green carpet During the awards, Harpa exhibited the Art Carpet: a sustainable installation made from local products and materials collected from local stores (to reduce its carbon footprint). The installation was created by Icelandic artists Tanja Levý and Lilý Erla Adamsdóttir, and US-Canadian artist Sean O’Brien. The carpet was designed to live a long life – not to be a single-use product. The Art Carpet was inspired by Iceland’s unique landscape, such as its lava fields covered with woolly fringe moss. The artists put emphasis on capturing the surroundings’ otherworldly elements with a variety of methods such as tufting Icelandic wool, using geotextiles and sawdust, and collaborating with local perfumery Fischersund on a themed perfume.

Postponing from 2020 Originally, Reykjavík was to host the 33rd European Film Awards in 2020. However, the European Film Academy (EFA) and Reykjavík’s government agreed to postpone due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the award ceremony took place virtually in Berlin. Previous hosts have included Seville, London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, and other European cities. The guestlist The 644 international guests who filled Harpa’s auditorium were:

• 241 filmmakers
• 235 Academy members and associates
• 113 partner film institutions and sponsors
• 11 were from international and Icelandic political delegations
• 44 media representatives and influencers

In addition, over 225 film industry companies (e.g., production, sales and distribution companies, festivals, institutions, and media outlets) were represented, mainly by their managing or artistic directors, head of departments and/or producers. Tackling the pandemic Harpa reported that there was certainly plenty of enthusiasm in the lead up to the ceremony’s in-person return. Considering the flourishing Icelandic creative and cultural scene and dramatic landscape, delegates seemed ready to be inspired, engage and collaborate. Considering delegates’ enthusiasm to attend, no hinderances were caused by recent fluxes in Covid-19 restrictions. Following the reopening of its borders on 26 March 2021, Iceland has welcomed global visitors and Harpa itself is well-practiced in hosting safe events.

Going the distance Iceland’s distance from Europe posed a few challenges to the event; the Awards’ production schedule had to be reorganised due to later arrivals. This posed a logistical challenge for the team, as rehearsals and press interviews couldn’t be held on the day originally set. Luckily in this case, the schedule needed to be postponed by only a day. A large amount of attendees were travelling from mainland Europe, where the flight-time is usually as short as four hours. Back into the economy On the Awards’ contribution to Reykjavík’s economy Sigurður Valur Sigurðsson, director of marketing for Meet in Reykjavik, explained: “Time will demonstrate the long-term economic impacts of hosting the awards, but we achieved our aim of promoting Icelandic culture and art to key opinion leaders.” Noting that the event’s promotion of Iceland would pique the interest of leisure and business travellers, Sigurðsson added: “The event was broadcast live in 24 countries across Europe so it offered substantial advertising value and reached a large audience. “ Harpa noted that EFA spotlit facility’s modern infrastructure and complex capabilities, such as its in-house security, sound quality, and the Harpa operational and technical teams’ skills and professionalism. The road ahead Since its opening in 2011, thousands of events have been held in Harpa spanning many different sectors. However, the venues states that none had been the scale of EFA 2022’s production. Domestic film and music award ceremonies are regularly held at Harpa, but on a much smaller scale. Due to the success of EFA 2022, Harpa have not reported that it will be changing the way it operates future events in any significant way. Overall, the experience provided by the events’ scale has benefited the team – such as in dealing with the complexities of a multi-partner collaboration. When concluding its assessment of EFA’s process and hosting, Harpa has stated that its confidence in hosting international events has only grown.