Jón Stefánson lived and worked as an editor in New York for 28 years and returned to his homeland, Iceland, in 2017 where he began working at The National Film Archive of Iceland, one of three depositary archives in Iceland, with the primary role to collect and preserve Icelandic film heritage.
Building on the restoration of their catalogues, Jón shares that it is ‘extremely pleasing and satisfying to be able to restore some long forgotten footage and share it with a modern audience that, more often than not, is highly appreciative and often surprised by the quality and subject matter of the films presented.’ Join us as he takes us through some of his most exciting moments working with his country’s film heritage…
RESTORATIONS AT FILM FESTIVALS
Jón was a part of a series of films – Fjarst í eilífðar útsæ (On The Edge Of The Ocean) (1964) and Flug 401 (Flight 401 to New York) (1967) – that were restored and then shown earlier this year at Skjaldborg, a yearly film festival held in a little town called Patreksfjörður, located in the West Fjords in Iceland. The festival focuses on domestic documentaries and The National Film Archive of Iceland decided to highlight some of the works of Reynir Oddsson, a pioneer of Icelandic cinema.
Jón scanned both films on Lasergraphics ScanStation, then color corrected the digitised footage using DaVinci Resolve and finally ran them through Phoenix. “The DVOs that proved most useful were Dry Clean and Scratch Target with quite impressive results, if I dare say so myself”.
On The Edge Of The Ocean is a dreamy short documentary shot in 35mm cinemascope by the renowned French Cinetographer William Lubtchansky. It draws on the dramatic landscape the country has to offer and also highlights daily life in various aspects. Jón worked on a 16mm cinemascope version derived from the original with an English narration as the Icelandic version has unfortunately been lost. This film was also just recently acquired by Le Cinémathèque Française.
Flight 401 to New York is a documentary that follows a Loftleiðir stewardess on a trip from Reykjavic to New York, offering an insight into their daily life and how they spend the day once they touchdown. Shot on 16mm black and white film, this 30 minute quasi-documentary was shot by Director and Cinematographer Reynir Oddson, who later was known for Morðsaga (1977) (which Jón’s team also restored!) and Hernámsárin (1967).
Morðsaga (Story of Murder) was also a 35mm color film, and is considered a watershed moment for Icelandic film production as it was privately financed by the filmmakers and the subject matter was considered quite sensitive or even off limits. Tackling sexism in the late 20th century and navigating the emerging Icelandic middle class through, the film is centred through early-20s Anna who is bored by her office job and infatuated with a pompous pseudo-intellectual. Alongside this, Anna’s father tyrannised his wife, and the women’s response to his behaviour is daring.
Jón scanned the film in 4K resolution, color corrected in DaVinci Resolve and utilised DVOs Dry Clean, Scratch Target and Fix in Phoenix. The film was screened this Spring as part of The National Film Archive of Iceland’s monthly Bíótek (Cinematheque) that runs from September through May every year at Bíó Paradís, Reykjavík’s only art house cinema.
BROADCASTING FORGOTTEN NATIONAL GEMS
Reykjavík 1944 is, as the name suggests, a film shot in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, in 1944, and directed by Loftur Guðmundsson. Shot on 35mm black and white film stock, it calmly observes daily life in the city; this was a period of construction and development and the film tends to focus on this building and manufacturing.
The lore around this film originates from two separate times when the boat carrying the footage was shot down by German U-Boats: first in November 1944 and then in February 1945. Even though the film and the director safely arrived, for some unknown reason it then sat unfinished on a shelf for many years regardless.
This year, The National Film Archive of Iceland, in collaboration with the state broadcaster RUV, decided to put together a version of the film where the Archive oversaw and conducted all restoration and RUV, then picked and applied an appropriate music track. The result was broadcast on June 17th 2024, Iceland’s National Holiday.
Jón scanned the film’s several reels in 4K resolution on their LaserGraphics ScanStation, edited and colour corrected in DaVinci Resolve and then finished in Phoenix, again mostly utilizing Dry Clean and Scratch Target DVOs.
JÓN’S HIDDEN GEM
Whilst working as Post Production Project Manager at The National Film Archive of Iceland, Jón reveals that a hidden gem he was particularly proud to have worked on was the 1920 Sons of the Soil (Danish: Borgslægtens historie, Icelandic: Saga Borgarættarinnar) which was shown at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy in 2022.
This Danish film directed and shot by Gunnar Sommerfeldt in Iceland in 1919 is based on the novel by Gunnar Gunnarsson and was the first feature film shot in Iceland. Jón scanned a 35mm nitrate copy of the film reels and following a laborious restoration in DaVinci Resolve the film was scored by Þórður Magnússon and presented in Pordenone with a live performance by a 16 piece orchestra
Due to some heavy nitrate damage Jón was forced to put the film together utilising two sources, one being archived in Iceland and the other a scan that he received from The Danish Film Institute. The Icelandic version was visually far better than the Danish one, but heavily damaged in places. As such, Jón was forced to substitute some bits with the Danish version, but that version was also damaged but in a whole different way as it seems that when printed there was some misalignment and thus there was a particular form of “ghosting” present. After considerable wrangling, Jón was finally able to put together a version that was deemed presentable, but still lives in the hope that one day, perhaps, an undamaged version will be found somewhere.
WHY JÓN USES PHOENIX
Jón only recently found out about the power of Phoenix and admits that it’s already a ‘game changer’…
‘It is particularly satisfying to see dirt and scratches virtually disappear. For me, Scratch Target is priceless, as vertical scratches have been a particular challenge in the past. We often speak of “The Holy Grain”, so when restoring archival films the challenge is often how far to go. I feel that with Phoenix and it’s various DVOs I can decide exactly where I want to take each film and thus stay as close to the original as possible and yet polish the material so that the viewer’s experience is as good as it possibly can be’.
Jón also believes that what distinguished Filmworkz’s packages is the option to opt in or out on a monthly basis, which is ‘what makes it possible for us, a small institute on a limited budget, to utilise Phoenix. The various packages also make the software attractive and flexible.’