Dagur de’Medici Ólafsson and Daníel Bjarnason filming in Ethiopia for SOS

Dagur de’Medici Ólafsson, a graduate from Creative Technology and Daníel Bjarnason, a graduate from Directing/Producing, are filming in Ethiopia for the company Skot Productions. We had a chance to talk to Dagur and find out why he chose the art of film making as his future career and further information about the project they are working on now.

What draws me to film making is the fact that there are no rules, to be able to show the beauty in what is considered ugly and make beautiful things seem grotesque. To be able to control the audiences feelings with cameras, sound and editing. That is why we watch cinema, to get to another state of mind, get another perception. I want to be the one to create that.When I started my studies in film making, my goal was always to work as a cameraman abroad in nature films, documentaries or war correspondence. With time my situation changed and that dream gave way to another one. But my need for traveling and adventure still resides in me. Daniel and I have worked a lot together and we have traveled abroad for work before, so there was never any question on whether I would take this challenging assignment on or not. I also enjoy knowing that I can be a part of opening a Children’s Village in Ethiopia.

Dagur and Bjarni are putting together a short film to bring attention to the opening of a new village in Tule Moye for the SOS Children’s Villages and are in close contact with the poverty and shortage of fulfillment of basic needs that make the villages so important and are so far removed from the situation here in Iceland.

What surprised me the most is how the people we are filming actually live, we have all seen pictures and news from the impoverished areas in Africa, but I never would have thought the situation would be so bad. This trip has taken a much bigger toll on my emotional side than my physical side. There are many mothers with 6-12 children that need to work every day so their children can have something to eat, and more often than not, there is nothing left for them. We have met children here that have been wearing the same clothes for 2-3 years everyday and the clothing is grey because the houses are built from dirt and would not even qualify for a shelter for sheep in Iceland. We have driven past people that have to walk 6-10 kilometers every day for water, that often ends up with them coming home empty handed. There are 90.000 children here on the streets, abandoned by their parents. Many thousands of children die every month from hunger, infections and disease.

Our hope is that the film reminds people of what they already know, that the situation here in Ethiopia is horrendous and that there are people here, just like us, that live a frightening existence . One tends to forget that when in Iceland, understandably one can not spend whole days thinking about the horrors of the worlds, but I do hope that the public will see the film and support the project so that SOS can build this village that is desperately needed. In 2-3 years we will be back to see the progress.

They are doing important work and we hope to see the finished film in the near future, but if you are interested in supporting this cause, you can find out more online at www.sos.is