As a film journalist, one of the main joys of my work is getting to visit places I haven’t been to before, either as a member of the press or a jury member (sometimes both). This year, that already happened once with Rotterdam, and again last week with Stockfish, a festival that takes place in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s also why the newsletter is going out on a Monday, as I was a tad busy during the weekend.
The whole thing started on February 28, shortly after the Berlinale, when I received a message from my friend Davide Abbatescianni, who writes for Cineuropa. He was already confirmed to be attending the festival, and asked me if he could give them my name, as they were looking for other journalists who could cover the event. As the Feature Writer for The Film Verdict, I fit the bill. Sure enough, I received a formal invitation, the coverage was agreed upon with my editor, and on April 10 I was on a flight to Iceland, one of two Nordic countries I hadn’t visited yet (Norway is still on the list).
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