An in-your-face film festival

By COLIN COVERT Reykjavik, Iceland The Reykjavik International Film Festival might sound like an afterthought on the festival circuit, but the seventh edition of the world´s northernmost movie marathon shows it on its way to become oneof Europe´s major film events. There are some 140 films represented, on a staggering variety of themes, but this year´s motto might be "Courting Controversy." Reykjavik, still smarting from the 2008 financial crisis that toppled the government and put Iceland´s economy on life support, is in no mood for timid studio fare. Politically engaged and sexually provocative titles have been packing theaters and making headlines here. On Tuesday, philosopher/linguist Noam Chomsky drew a standing room only crows at the cavernous Haskolabio Theater at the University of Iceland with a live video address from his home in Cambridge, Mass. The MIT scholar addressed the lessons of Iceland´s economic collapse and the need for systemic reform. The conditions that drove the tiny nation into crushing foreign debt and shattered its banking system "are not laws of nature," Chomsky said, but the result of political decisions designed to enrich the nation´s elite at the expense of the rest. The festival´s film presentations take a pugnacious stance as well. The sidebar series "Better World" presents eight documentary features on human rights,including "Armadillo,'' following increasingly cynical Danish soldiers on the front line in Afghanistan, and "The Arrivals,' a documentary on the plight of Third World refugees in France. Director Patrice Chagnard, exhausted after promoting his film in 30 festivals over the last 18 months, said, "It´s difficult to live alongside Muslim people, but they are among us. It´s reality, what else can we do?" This clash of cultures, customs and needs, "how we relate to the other, is the most important issue we face." American filmmaker N.C. Heikin offered a scathing report on North Korea´s dictatorial regime in "Kimjongilia," a documentary ironically titled after the flower named for the despot. "It´s supposed to represent peace and beauty," she said with a roll of the eyes. "Whatever." The film interviews North Koreans who recount harrowing tales of official persecution, concentration camp-style re-education facilities, and mass starvation. The audience stayed afterward for an hour-long question and answer session with the filmmaker. The American documentary on Chinese occupation of Tibet, "When the Dragon Swallowed the Sun," sparked an international incident on the eve of its screening. The festival's manager, Hronn Marinosdottir, was called to a meeting at the Chinese embassy and asked to drop the title from the festival. China also pursued the matter with the Icelandic Foreign Ministry. Marinosdottir refused and the film was screened as scheduled. The program also features a number of films pushing the boundaries of sexual politics, including Todd Solondz´ dark comedy of obsession "Life During Wartime," produced by Minneapolis mini-studio Werc Werk Works. Further along the cutting edge is "Fake Orgasm," a nonfiction film about self-described "gender anarchist" Lazlo Perlman. It begins as an amusing reflection on our willingness to fib to please our partners, but soon becomes a challenging exploration of sexual identity illustrated via transsexual striptease. "Final Flesh" questioned the nature of pornography. Director Vernon Chatman learned about companies in the United States that specialize in filming any customer´s erotic fantasy, creating personalized porno films. Chatman decided to use these services to artistic ends, writing scripts full of zany dialog that reduced the performers to helpless laughter. The premise asked what four families would do with their final hour before a global nuclear war. The result, which doesn´t show any actual sex, is nevertheless strictly adults-only theater of the absurd.