The friend comes out as a trans woman

In the film Odd Fish (Ljósvíkingar), human emotions are the focus; joy, sorrow, fear, love, courage and burning passion. At the premiere this week, there was often a lot of laughter, but the film also brought tears to the eyes. The story is about deep friendship, our status as a nation and trans issues, and it's safe to say that the journalist's heart warmed when he watched it.

Snævar Sölvi Sölvason, who is from Bolungavík in the Westfjords, is now showing his biggest film to date. He uses people from his local environment on Ísafjörður as models for some of the characters, as well as drawing firewood from his own experience working in the catering sector and the fishing industry.

Father-in-law's stories

Over the years, Sölvason has worked in various jobs, such as teaching in a high school where he taught manuscript writing; at the Maritime Museum in Ísafjörður; and at the fish restaurant Tjöruhúsið, as well as the previously mentioned fish processing jobs. For the last two years, he has devoted himself exclusively to filmmaking, while he worked on the documentary series Skaginn and on his latest film, Odd Fish.

All experience comes in handy when making a personal film, and Sölvason didn't look too far for the environment. The frame around the story are old houses on Ísafjörður that have a long and remarkable history.

"This is the oldest cluster of houses in Iceland and the houses are very special and have a lot of history. My father-in-law was an artist and a great history buff. He also fought for the protection of boats and managed to build a cool business there," he says, but the inspiration for the main protagonist of the film is drawn from Jón's character.

"I used everything related to the museum, restaurant business, saving old boats, who we are as a nation and Iceland's history in the film, but my father-in-law told me many stories. Jón did a lot for the culture in the area, but he didn't care much about it. He was a hero of his day. I remember him once saying, "We are and became a nation because we know how to catch fish." I wrote that sentence down, but he had no idea that I was punctuating many of his words. I had a lot to learn from that, and there is a lot from him that goes into the film."

Making people feel good

What is the film Ljósvíkingar about?

"This is a story about friendship and love, but also about change. Björn Jörundur plays Hjalti, who runs the Maritime Museum and fish restaurant with his best friend Björn and also fights for the protection of old boats," he says, adding that Hjalti's marriage could be in a better place.

Hjalti learns that everything is subject to change in this life.

"The best friend comes out as a trans woman," Sölvason says, but both Hjalti and Björn, later Birna, have to deal with the big changes.

"And find the light. The title Ljósvíkingar refers to that; like Vikings who went in search of a better life, there are friends who fight for the good in existence; light and brightness. The heartbeat of the film is the friendship," he says.

"My goal was to create a film that entertains the audience and keeps them excited to know what happens next." But the main goal is still to make a film that makes people feel better about themselves and life. This is a "feel good" film," Sölvason says and hopes to hear laughter in the audience, as the film is often quite funny.