Is your brother-in-law still a Communist?
Valdimar Leifsson was not a Communist and got the job. mbl.is/Árni Sæberg
“Those were unusual times. An unnamed member of Parliament, who was also a member of the Media Committee, called my brother-in-law when I applied for the job and asked if I was still a Communist. Actually I had never been a Communist, but I had participated in protesting the Vietnam War. My brother-in-law answered no, telling the congressman that I had studied in the United States, not Russia. To that end, I was immediately hired. The institution at that time had a political bias.”
This is how Valdimar Leifsson describes the times when he returned from his studies in the United States in 1977. Leifsson, who is one of the most prolific filmmakers in the country began began working making TV programs at the National Television and for the next few years produced many different programs, such as talk shows, travel shows, art shows, children’s programs and nature films.
Valdimar á ferð í Chukotka í Rússlandi árið 2008. Ljósmynd/Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson
Leifsson worked in the news and education department, so he was under the direction of the Emil Björn Björnsson, the news editor. “He went completely mad when it took me a year and a half to make the nature documentary ‘Í mýrinni’; he thought it would only take me two days.’ However, it came to light when the film started selling everywhere. It was the best-selling nature documentary in television at the time. It was filmed by Haraldur Friðriksson, but I was now allowed to film nor edit because I was the producent and the managing director. There were some weird rules.”
Leifsson’s passion is to do nature documentaries and he sees nature as his his mother. “Not everyone sees it that way, unfortunately. Through this work, however, I met the geologist Trausti Guðmundsson, and we’ve worked together a lot in the past. Another good colleague is photographer Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson, who is rarely far away. We have been around Iceland’s nature scene, as can be seen in our extensive footage. I really enjoy getting away from the city, enjoying nature and meeting farmers and other people in the countryside. There is much less stress there than in the city.”
Leifsson has worked quite a bit for the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland throughout the years and really enjoys it. “I am always learning more new things about Mother Nature,” he says but he has made documentaries about all of the national parks in Iceland.
A longer interview is in the Sunday edition of Morgunblaðið about Leifson’s adventurous career.
