SYNOPSIS
Edward Pack Davee lived in Iceland as a small child, at the time that his earliest memories were forming. Over 40 years later, he finally returned with the intent to document Icelandic ravens, letting them dictate the landscapes to film, as a way to avoid conventional tourist style documentation. But the ravens unexpectedly led him down a path of rediscovering distant memories and mysterious feelings of familiarity. HRAFNAMYND is an unconventional, atmospheric and poetic feature length documentary that explores the link between memory and location as well as well as touching on Icelandic mythology and folklore, as well as his families own folklore and mythology.
Shot on a mix of film and digital formats, the film also features Edward’s father’s stunning Ektachrome slides from the 70’s, and a talking raven named Krummi.
The film is further enhanced by way of a collaboration with Portland musician and field recordist Patricia Wolf, who created a
Gorgeous original soundtrack, as well as a textured sound design mix.
ABOUT THE FILM
HRAFNAMYND is a film that developed organically. There was no initial intention other than the fact that I wanted to return to the mysterious land of my early childhood, and I wanted to capture images of Icelandic ravens as a way to sort of experience Iceland through their eyes, and to feel fully immersed in the their landscapes. I had done something similar, many years prior, with Crowfilm, which followed the crows of Portland Oregon. Over the course of 6 years, I had several lengthy stays in Iceland, most often in remote parts of the west coast. The long periods of isolation and loneliness, combined with an ever growing sense of familiarity, brought me back to my fathers slides, and in revisiting them for the first time in many years, I realized that my own explorations in Iceland as an adult, were somehow mirroring those of my childhood with my family, almost 50 years earlier. The rest came naturally, and slowly took its current form.
While editing, I began a collaborative friendship with Patricia Wolf. I felt live here music was a great and natural pairing for my images and that we had similar and complimentary ways of interpreting environments. I let her know that I had started editing several scenes using her music. Eventually we began talking about the possibility of an original soundtrack, as well as an immersive sound design. Things fell into place, and I feel that Patricia’s work enhanced and elevated the project to a whole new level, far exceeding my expectations.
