Scandinavian Film Festival Interview: Sakaris Stórá on protecting culture in The Last Paradise on Earth (Faroe Islands)

Excerpt from thecurb.com.au

In a small coastal town on the Faroe Islands, a compact factory thrums away. Inside, a steel-faced Kári (Sámal H. Hansen) toils away amongst other factory workers, gutting fish in time with the rhythm of the conveyor belt. To us it may seem like this cold and calculated work is the result of tortuous boredom. But to director Sakaris Stórá, this couldn’t be farther from the truth: “I used to work in a factory like that myself for three years. I did that instead of going to college, so I wanted the factory to be portrayed very honestly, because it’s very easy to romanticise that kind of work in film. I wanted it to feel the way I felt when working there. Routines almost became a form of meditation.” Kári’s work is a spiritual process, not a cause for his listlessness but a treatment for it. And while other Faroese may want to escape what they believe to be a dying island, Kári believes The Last Paradise on Earth, as well as his relatively simple life there, are not only worth salvaging but protecting.