NordenBladet – A short film by Faroese director, Andreas Høgenni, has won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, titled “Ikki Illa Meint” (No Ill Will in English), was one of ten nominated films at the Semaine de la Critique (Critic’s Week). This is the first time a Faroese film or director has won at Cannes Film Festival.
“This award proves that there is interest from abroad in viewing films that use the Faroese language,” says Andreas. “Hopefully this will make it easier to convince investors to take a chance on Faroese films.”
At the awards ceremony, held on 22 May, Andreas was too caught up in the moment to register the judge’s statement, explaining why the film had won.
“When I realised Ikki Illa Meint had won, everything suddenly went black and my heart just started pounding,” Andreas recalls. “Before I knew it, I was standing on the stage with the award in my hands.”
Ikki Illa Meint is a tragicomedy the centres around two female friends that randomly meet one another in a supermarket. An initially relaxed chat about daily life turns into a confrontation about their friendship. One has blocked the other on Facebook and does not want to reveal her motive. A hunt to find out why ensues.
The Semaine de la Critique (Critic’s Week) showcases rising talents in the film industry. Ten feature films and ten short films are nominated each year, chosen from thousands of entries. Short film directors are invited to take part in NEXT, a five-day workshop organised by Cannes where creatives meet to discuss and learn more about the future of film. Directors are also given the chance to work on their ongoing projects during the workshop.
NordenBladet – The island of Sandoy* will be the first in the country to use eco-friendly buses that run on sustainable green energy, according to Heðin Mortensen, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Labour. Distances on the island are short and the terrain is relatively flat, making it well suited for a ‘green’ solution.
The Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Labour sees this as the first step in increasing the use of green energy solutions in public transport systems. Should the project on Sandoy prove successful, eco-friendly solutions will be expanded in accordance with the development of green energy.
The interurban bus operation that provides an integrated public transport system between villages across the country is called ‘Bygdaleiðir’. This network of buses and ferries is operated on behalf of the Faroese government by Strandfaraship Landsins. Every few years, companies can bid to win the license to run this network.
The policy of the current government includes the development of green energy. According to the Ministry Transport, Infrastructure and Labour, the project on Sandoy is a supplement to the criteria set in the licensing briefing. It is up to each bidder to decide what type of green energy their buses will use. For example, how much energy is used to drive the buses or where the energy comes from.
Heðin Mortensen says a system will be implemented that incentivises those running the public transport network to use green energy. Strandfaraskip Landsins and the winning company could, for example, make an agreement in which the company gets a larger profit share. This, however, means there must be more work put into increasing the number of passengers that use public transports between villages and towns.
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* Sandoy (Danish: Sandø. English: Sand Island. Icelandic: Sandey) is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the region that includes this island along with Skúvoy and Stóra Dímun. As of 2011, the largest population center on the island is the village of Sandur with a population of 599. Other settlements include Skarvanes, Skopun, Skálavík, Húsavík and Dalur.
Sandoy gets its name from the large beach at Sandur, and the general sandy soil of the island. It is the only island with dunes.
There are similarly named islands, Sanday in the Orkney Islands, Sanday in the Inner Hebrides and Sandøy in Norway.
A proposal has been approved by the Faroese parliament to build a tunnel, the Sandoyartunnilin, connecting Sandoy with the more populous Streymoy to the north. Construction is not planned to be completed until 2021.
The island is considered the best island for agriculture due to its fertile sandy soil. The largest potato farm in the country is located on the island. And people who have gardening interests have generally an easier time getting plants to grow here.
On 19 August 2015 the agricultural union “Veltan” was founded for people who have an interest in gardening and farming, their aim is to improve conditions for a self-sustaining way of life, and agricultural businesses.
The island supports 6,878 sheep, not including lambs.
NordenBladet – In 2014, the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation* took the initiative to form an active network of interesting European Icon cities, focusing on the significance of icons for a modern city, how to develop icons in an urban context and its impact on the modern identity of a city.
A number of European cities have taken part or are connected to the network, for instance Kassel (The Grimm Brothers), Salzburg (Mozart), Malaga (Picasso), Vimmerby (Astrid Lindgren), Skien (Henrik Ibsen), Rungstedlund (Karen Blixen) and Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare). Each city has chosen to honour an important and well-known artist that has a special connection to the city.
Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, plans to join the network and has chosen one of the Faroe Islands’ most famous authors and painters, William Heinesen**, as its icon.
The idea behind a European Icon City is to strengthen the city’s identity and to function as a part of the city’s cultural tourism. One such example is in Odense, Denmark, in which Odense Council and Syddansk University collaborate in promoting Odense as the H.C. Andersen Icon City. There is great interest from the city’s guests to walk in H.C. Andersen’s footsteps in Odense, to see his birthplace, read his poems or stories and be informed about the great author’s life and work in general.
Bergur Rønne Mobert, an expert in William Heinesen’s work, believe there is great potential in highlighting William Heinesen’s work even more.
“A greater focus on William Heinesen’s work would benefit the cultural tourism of Tórshavn, and it would also attract larger research conferences to the city,” says Bergur. “William Heinesen the person, and his work in general, has had incredible importance for Faroese culture and society, and continues to have to this day. Becoming a William Heinesen Icon City would help ensure that future generations are familiar with one of the country’s greatest artists and authors.”
Tórshavn Council, the University of the Faroe Islands and the H.C. Andersen Foundation have said they will continue to work together in an effort to make Tórshavn a William Heinesen Icon City.
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* The Hans Christian Andersen Foundation combines research, tourism and events. The foundation is responsible for cooperation and coordination of the work involved in exploiting the Hans Christian Andersen brand at local, national and international levels. The executive committee of Hans Christian Andersen Foundation Odense is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Industry and Growth, the Municipality of Odense, the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), the Region of Southern Denmark, and Development Funen. The executive committe of Hans Christian Andersen Foundation Odense has laid down three main tracks for work on Hans Christian Andersen.
Research and reports
SDU has implemented a research project that is to clarify the relevant aspect of Andersen’s importance today as a cultural icon, ‘brand’, myth and historical figure. The knowledge that emerges from the project is to help indicate new tools and new ideas for exploiting Andersen within tourism, culture and events. Among other things, the research project is to clarify Andersen’s importance in Denmark, and a cooperation has also been entered into with Chinese researchers at Fudan University, Shanghai, which has already resulted in a book about the present-day importance in China of Hans Christian Andersen.
Events
Here, one of the aims is to support and contribute to the Hans Christian Andersen Festivals that are held in Odense in August and that bring together a wide selection of local, national and international names and cultural events in Odense, thereby raising it up to a national/international level. The festival features a host of activities, with games, robots, theatre, music and literature for all ages and target groups.
Tourism
There is considerable potential for exploiting the Hans Christian Andersen brand to attract more tourism – especially international tourism. In cooperation with national tourism organisations and operators, the foundation is to select particular areas for special focus and implement initiatives on the basis of existing Andersen offers. Furthermore, a sophisticated, target effect is to be developed on the basis of research and reports on such topics as the relation between Denmark and China.
** Andreas William Heinesen (15 January 1900 – 12 March 1991) was a poet, novel writer, short story writer, children’s book writer, composer and painter from the Faroe Islands.
The Faroese capital Tórshavn is always the centre of Heinesen’s writing and he is famous for having once called Tórshavn “The Navel of the World”. His writing focuses on contrasts between darkness and light, between destruction and creativity. Then following is the existential struggle of man to take sides. This is not always easy, however, and the lines between good and bad are not always clearly defined.
Heinesen was captivated by the mysterious part of life, calling himself religious in the broadest sense of the word. His life could be described as a struggle against defeatism with one oft-quoted aphorism of his is that “life is not despair, and death shall not rule”.
As he was born and raised before the Faroese language was taught in the schools, he wrote mainly in Danish but his spoken language was Faroese. All his books were later translated into his native Faroese.
He published his first collection of poetry when he was 21 and he had three more published before he wrote his first novel Blæsende gry (Stormy Dawn) in 1934. He read every single one of the chapters to the painter Sámal Joensen-Mikines, as he was worried that his Danish was not good enough. That was followed up with Noatún (1938). Noatún has a strong political message – solidarity is the key to a good society. His next book The Black Cauldron (1949) deals with the aftermath of decadent living combined with religious hysteria. In The Lost Musicians (1950) Heinesen leaves the social realism of his earlier works behind, instead giving himself over to straightforward storytelling. Mother Pleiades (1952) is an ode to his imagination. Its subtitle is “a Story From the Beginning of Time”.
Heinesen was not content with writing only novels. In the fifties he began writing short stories as well. Most of them have been printed in these three collections entitled The Enchanted Light, Gamaliel’s Bewitchment and Cure Against Evil Spirits (1969). In the novel The Good Hope, his main character the Rev. Peder Børresen is based on the historical person Rev. Lucas Debes. When Heinesen was asked how long it had taken to write it, he answered “Forty years. But then I did other things in between.”
He was awarded the Danish literary prize Holberg Medal in 1960.
He received The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize in 1965 for his novel Det gode håb (The Good Hope), published in 1964. In the story Heinesen had the difficult task of reproducing 17th-century Danish. He succeeded, and won the prize. It is widely considered his best work.
When there were rumours that William Heinesen was about to receive the Nobel Prize for literature in 1981, he wrote to the Swedish Academy and renounced his candidacy. Later he explained why:
The Faroese language was once held in little regard – indeed it was suppressed outright. In spite of this, the Faroese language has created a great literature, and it would have been reasonable to give the Nobel Prize to an author who writes in Faroese. If it had been given to me, it would have gone to an author who writes in Danish, and in consequence Faroese efforts to create an independent culture would have been dealt a blow.
He was awarded with the Faroese Literature Prize in 1975.
In 1980 on his 80th birthday Heinesen was appointed “Tórshavn’s Citizen of Honour” by his home town.
In 1980 he received the Danish Critics Prize for Literature (Kritikerprisen).
In 1984 he received the Children’s Books Prize of Tórshavn City Council (Barnabókaheiðursløn Tórshavnar býráðs)
In 1985 he was awarded the Karen Blixen Medal from the Danish Academy.
In 1987 he was awarded the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize (“little Nobel”).
NordenBladet – Faroese software company, FarPay, has been awarded the title of Faroese ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2019’. The company, which started in 2015 and currently employs 11 people, creates software for processing and shipping invoices, payment and follow-up, making it easy to charge money with modern payment solutions, and easy for customers to pay.
The Faroese Prime Minister, Aksel V. Johannesen, attended the awards ceremony in Runavík to hand the award.
He said: “This year’s winner is a company that has prospered in the Faroese and Danish market. The company has the potential to develop in markets all over the world, and, as such, the company has great importance for the Faroese business sector and community. The team behind FarPay were quick to see an opportunity in digitalising the transfer of money.”
The judges said they see great potential in FarPay and were impressed by the quick turnover achieved by the company in the short time since it started.
NordenBladet – 100 Faroese athletes will compete in 10 sports at the International Island Games in Gibraltar in July.
The Games started in the 1980s with the idea of providing athletes from various islands an opportunity to compete internationally, and to forge links between different islands. Islands with similar history, heritage and geography were invited and, in the summer of 1985, the first ever games were held on the Isle of Man. The games were originally meant to be held once, but the massive success of the first event meant another competition was held two years later, this time in Guernsey. The Faroe Islands have hosted the Games once, in 1989.
The International Island Games has gone from 700 participants, 15 islands and seven sports in 1985 to 2500 participants, 24 islands and 14 in 2019.
The Games are held every other year and the host island choses between 12 and 14 of 18 different sports. This year’s host nation, Gibraltar, has chosen 14 sports, including athletics, badminton, cycling, squash, swimming and table tennis. The Faroe Islands will compete in basketball, judo, table tennis, shooting, tennis, swimming, badminton, athletics, triathlon and cycling. The participating countries include Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gotland, Greenland, Jersey, St. Helena and the Faroe Islands.
NordenBladet – The Faroese flag was shown in public for the first time on 2 June 1919 in Fredensborg, a town 30 km north of Copenhagen. To celebrate the centennial anniversary of this historic happening, seven Faroese wooden ships docked in Copenhagen this past Sunday, 2 June 2019. The celebrations included a parade, memorial ceremony, a church service in Fredensborg, speeches, singing and the opportunity for people to step on board the ancient ships, some of which date back to 1884.
The Faroese Association of Wooden Sailing Ships, or Felagið Føroysk Træseglskip, has organised the centennial celebrations. The ships and their crews departed the Faroe Islands on 16 May and have visited several Danish towns on their way to Copenhagen, including Odense, Fyn, Århus, and Helsingør. The visits have included art exhibitions, musical performances, samples of Faroese food and lectures about Faroese design and tourism in the Faroe Islands. In each location, people had the opportunity to step on board the ships to experience first hand the living and working conditions of crews in ancient days, when the ships fished in waters surrounding Iceland and Greenland.
About the flag
The Faroese flag is called Merkið, meaning “the banner” or “the mark”. It was designed in 1919 by Jens Oliver Lisberg and other students in Copenhagen. The first time Merkið was raised in the Faroe Islands was on 22 June 1919, in Famjin, the home village of Mr. Lisberg, during a wedding.
On 25 April, 1940, the British government, who were occupying the Faroe Islands during the Second World War, approved the flag for use by Faroese vessels. April 25 is still celebrated as Flag Day (“Flaggdagur”) and is a national holiday. Merkið was finally recognized by the Danish Government as the national flag of the Faroe Islands in the Home Rule Act of 23 March, 1948. The original flag is displayed in the church in Famjin on the island of Suðuroy.
The flag of the Faroe Islands is an offset cross, representing Christianity. It follows the traditions of other Nordic flags, such as Dannebrog (Flag of Denmark).