Gnarr

Not long ago, the industrialised world was booming. Many believed the wave of expansion and profit would never end. No other country illustrated this swift rate of growth – followed by the the rapid and profound collapse of this overheated conjuncture – more completely than Iceland. Within a few short weeks, the celebrated Scandinavian economic wonderland went bankrupt. This was the background to comedian Jon Gnarr’s crazy idea: ridiculing the established political parties by founding the ‘besti flokkurinn’ or the ‘best party’, in 2009. The name is the game, and the controversial artist sought election to Reykjavik’s town council. Gnarr took the standard phrases of political jargon and made a mockery of them. He demanded open instead of secret corruption, a drug-free parliament until 2020 and a Disneyland in Reykjavik with free entry for all. And of course, cuts across the board. But one Santa Claus is quite enough … (Zurich Film Festival)