A story of queer life in Reykjavik and Berlin
Norms Web Series Premiers at Reykjavik Feminist Film Festival.
Premiering Thursday, January 14th at the Reykjavik Feminist Film Festival, is Norms, a queer web series starring Marta Sveinbjörnsdóttir as Sara, a 29-year-old Icelandic woman who's flawed yet lovable personality gets her into trouble. An edgy mix of comedy and drama, Norms aims to show what life for queer women in Iceland and Germany is like outside of the confines of stereotype.
Filmed half in Iceland and half in Germany, the series follows "self-destructive and impulsive Sara who runs away from her life in Reykjavik when her lies finally catch up to her, dramatically ending her troubled relationship and unfulfilling career. But her escape to Berlin, the city of lost souls, is not without its problems. As she struggles to redefine herself in her new home, it becomes clear she might have left her heart back in Iceland." Developing characters quickly, the web series invites viewers in to a friend circle that you'll certainly feel at home around.
GayIceland got an early look at Norms prior to its premier and sat down with Sólveig Johnsen, who wrote the screenplay for Norms, to chat about the series.
You mentioned that Norms challenges stereotypes by normalizing rather than idealizing them. What stereotypes in particular?
Sólveig: "The characters in Norms that are queer or belong to other marginalized groups are not there to represent a certain group by addressing issues, they are simply portrayed as regular people living their own, unique lives. They are regular parts of the world in the story – friends and lovers. In addition we wanted to challenge ideas about what a "normal" Icelandic 29-year-old woman should be, what she should look like, how she should be as a mother etc."
How did the connection between Reykjavik and Berlin come about?
Sólveig: "The group behind the series has members living in both cities and part of our reason for forming the Lost Shoe Collective was to collaborate on projects transnationally. In 2018 we released the documentary Artist Run, which revolves around artist-run galleries in Reykjavík and Berlin and we really enjoyed the process of filming in these two interesting cities. Many young people from Iceland go to Berlin to live or study, so it came naturally to us to have the web series happen in both places."
Was the series born before covid or filmed with covid restrictions? Did it make it more challenging?
Sólveig: "We shot the series in the fall of 2019 so we were lucky to be done with filming before Covid hit us. But it certainly slowed down the post-production process and we have had to do everything online, of course. In March last year we actually met in Berlin, all of us, to have a post-production session together, but only managed to have one dinner together before everyone had to jump on the next possible flight home! This was at the exact time that they were restricting all flights, so we were lucky to be able to get home safely."
From Norms.
Tell us more about Júlía Margrét Einarsdóttir, the Lost Shoe Collective, and others that worked on the project.
Sólveig: "The Lost Shoe Collective has been collaborating since 2017 as an informal creative group, but very recently we founded a company around it. So now we are a very real production company! The group includes 12 members currently, many of them part of the original crew that made our first project Artist Run. We all have different backgrounds and talents, from journalists and researchers to designers, filmmakers and writers. We are all in this together to make great projects and have fun while doing it. For me, this group is magic! Together we have accomplished things that usually are pretty impossible to do, such as filming our whole series in two weeks, in two countries.
"We didn't realize it at first, but a very high percentage of the Lost Shoe Collective are queer women … For me, this is an important factor for a story like Norms, having queer women in the roles of director, screenwriter, main actress and more – this is our story to tell."
Júlía joined the group to direct Norms and has now become a permanent part of the Lost Shoe Collective and the company. She is a writer and journalist and directing the series was a new kind of challenge for her, which she handled wonderfully! Then of course we were super lucky to find amazing actors in both Reykjavík and Berlin that truly made the characters come to life. And musicians Gaby DeSpain and Unnur Andrea Einarsdóttir were so kind to let us use their music for the series, which made a really big difference for us. All in all, Norms is a passion project that huge number of people have given their time and creativity to make happen."
The poster from Norms.
How much of the cast and crew are members of the community themselves?
Sólveig: "Surprisingly many! We didn't realize it at first, but a very high percentage of the Lost Shoe Collective are queer women. It's a wonderful coincidence! (or maybe not a coincidence at all…?). For me, this is an important factor for a story like Norms, having queer women in the roles of director, screenwriter, main actress and more – this is our story to tell. At least a few of our actors and extras belong to the queer community as well, but I'm not sure exactly how many."
The series was partly funded by the City of Reykjavik? How did the collaboration come about?
Sólveig: "We applied for and received a cultural grant in 2020 from the City of Reykjavík, to finish our post-production. That was very helpful."
How can a dildo have such an amazing story arch?
Sólveig: "The dildo is obviously the main character, right? I think the idea of the dildo being a sort of "red thread" through the story started as a joke … but I feel that it adds a layer of ridiculousness to the drama, reminding us not to take life too seriously."
Norms, which was funded by Erasmus+ and The City of Reykjavik, is produced by exciting new Icelandic filmmaking company Lost Shoe Collective whose other major projects include Artist Run, a documentary profiling independent artists and galleries in Reykjavik and Berlin. After its premiere at the RVK Feminist Film Festival, Norms will be released on Youtube. For information and updates follow Norms on Facebook and Instagram. Watch the trailer here:
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