Endurgjöf / Feedback - 2023

Kennaraverkföll á Íslandi til aldamóta

Regluleg kennaraverkföll á Íslandi í nærri fjóra áratugi er mörgum kynslóðum í fersku minni, daglegt líf um fjórðung þjóðarinnar raskaðist og líf nemenda tók nýja stefnu á meðan þjóðfélagsátök einkenndust af baráttu við efnhagssveiflur. "Endurgjöf" segir frá kennaraverkfallinu 1995 en rekur einnig sögu verkfalla kennara frá 1977 og áhrif þjóðarsáttar á kjaramálaumræðu.

Teacher's strikes on regular bases in Iceland for almost four decades are fresh in the memory of generations, the daily life of about a quarter of the population was disrupted and lives of students took a new direction, while social conflicts were characterized by economic fluctuations. "Feedback" focuses on the 1995 teacher's strike and sums up the story of 5 teacher's strikes from 1977.

viðmælendur/interviewees:

Elna Katrín Jónsdóttir

Einar Már Guðmundsson

Eiríkur Jónsson

Karen Rúnarsdóttir

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

Óli Gneisti Sóleyjarson

Broadcast, May 1. 2024 on Icelandic National TV (RUV)

Director's note: The main theme of the film is the class struggle in the larger context of things when looking at the development of teachers' work and duties. Often rapid social changes due to technological development and an unprecedented increase of teachers in the profession leave an impression on the history of their struggle. It was inevitable to trace the social development and the general strikes of the 1980s due to the country's economic fluctuations and political management, because almost all classes of the country were on strike at some point during the period. 

The material was "dry" when it comes to the use of terminology on economic issues. It was therefore one of the main challenges in the making of this film, that the story and the language would be accessible to a wide audience and have historical value, which would reach younger as well as older viewers who knew this story firsthand. 

Considerable data collection took place and this is the first and hopefully the only picture of the undersigned where interesting topics and comments from interviewees are left on the cutting room floor. It didn't make matters any easier that a large number of years and names of characters come back and forth, and number of teachers' associations also had countless names until the turn of the century. I considered the use of comic sketches to be important in projecting a picture of a society where the strikes in question were on everyone's lips and the whole society was subjected to, so that the nation's comedians regularly saw an opportunity to bring the material into their creations. 

I didn't think it was right to use a lot of period music to recall the almost 20-year period that the film covers, because both the visuals were a decisive review element, but also because a lot of reproduced music can reduce the character of a film. To be sure, many people can say that the film is a "common history" of a class struggle, but here we cover history promptly in part, as there were number of strikes, where worker's demands are often repeated and molded from one year to another. 

The general public got news of strikes and this struggle through television (2 channels) and print media. In this film, the scenario of these media, is their discourse, platform and experience through the TV screen only, before the time of digital revolution.

Einar Thor