GRANDMA LO-FI: THE BASEMENT TAPES OF SIGRÍDUR NÍELSDÓTTIR

AMMA LO-FI: KJALLARASPÓLUR SIGRÍÐAR NÍELSDÓTTUR

By Orri JÓNSSON, Kristín Björk KRISTJÁNSDÓTTIR

ICELANDIC FILM CENTRE - as FIN

Documentary - Completed 2011

At the tender age of 70 she started recording her own music – and then she just couldn’t stop! Seven years later she had 59 albums to her name. The Danish/Icelandic artist Sigrídur Níelsdóttir is an adored figure in the Icelandic music scene, and this film is a tribute to her boundless creativity, c

    • Year of production
    • 2011
    • Genres
    • Documentary
    • Countries
    • ICELAND
    • Languages
    • ICELANDIC
    • Duration
    • 62 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Orri JÓNSSON, Kristín Björk KRISTJÁNSDÓTTIR
    • Writer(s)
    • Orri JÓNSSON, Kristín Björk KRISTJÁNSDÓTTIR, Ingibjörg BIRGISDÓTTIR
    • Producer(s)
    • Sæmundur NORÐFJÖRÐ
    • Synopsis
    • At the tender age of 70 she started recording and releasing her own music straight from the living room. Seven years later she had 59 albums to her name with more than 600 songs – an eccentric myriad of catchy compositions mixing in her pets, found toys, kitchen percussion and a Casio keyboard.
      Sigríður Níelsdóttir is her name, and before long the Icelandic/Danish musician and visual artist became an adored cult figure in the Icelandic music scene, represented here by her young apprentices Mugison, múm, and Sin Fang of Seabear who pay tribute to the grandma’s irresistibly catchy, yet eccentric pop tunes.
      Shot mostly on Super-8 and 16mm, Grandma Lo-fi was created over a period of seven years by three musicians and debuting directors, capturing the most productive period in the life of Sigríður Níelsdóttir. In many ways Sigríður is like a cartoon character. Poetic moves such as taking in broken-winged pigeons that in return sing along to her tunes, or transforming a cream whisk into a helicopter, all call for animated sequences that bridge the obscure space between her exemplary imagination and a delightfully peculiar everyday existence.
      Grandma Lo-fi is a cinematic tribute to an amazing musician and to her boundless creativity.