The trailer for Time and Water is out. The film, which is currently touring festivals, is produced by National Geographic Documentary Films and directed by Oscar nominee Sara Dosa (Fire of Love). It is produced by Shane Boris, who won an Oscar for Navalny, along with Elijah Stevens and Jameka Autry.
Time and Water is a kind of love letter to Iceland — its glaciers, and the generations past and future. It is largely woven from footage my family has filmed over decades. There are images from 1955 that my grandfather Árni shot on 16mm film, my mother Kristín Björnsdóttir’s 8mm footage from 1975, and my own videos since 1995. In other words, three generations filming across 70 years.
All of this is brought together by Colombian cinematographer Pablo Alvares Mesa. The volume of material was immense, and a major undertaking for the editing team: Erin Casper, Jocelyne Chaput, and Mark Harrison.
My whole family is in the film. My father sunbathing and my mother on her 10th birthday. My grandparents Hulda and Árni on their honeymoon on Vatnajökull, and on trips with the Iceland Glaciological Society. There are my grandparents Jón and Dísa and their greystone wedding in the North. There is Margrét Sjöfn Torp and Hlynur Snær Andrason, and the newborns: Hulda Filippía Andradóttir, Elín Freyja Andradóttir, and Kristín Lovísa Andradóttir. There is my brother Jón Pétur Magnason, my sister Hulda Brá Magnadóttir, as well as my cousin John Thorbjarnarson.
The film has been three years in the making for National Geographic Documentary Films, but in reality it stretches back 17 years, to when Halldóra Jóhanna Þorláksdóttir set things in motion and I began collecting the material. A strong team has worked on the film, both in Iceland and abroad. Animation and graphics are by Lucy Munger, and the sound world by Björn Viktorsson. The Icelandic producers are Heather Millard and Kristín Ólafs, along with Heimir Freyr Hlöðversson, Freyja Kristinsdóttir, and Karólína Stefánsdóttir.
It’s rare for documentaries to make their way into cinemas. Time and Water will be released on May 29 and shown in London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and elsewhere, before streaming on Disney+. I’m now working on the Icelandic voiceover for the release in Iceland at the end of the summer.
