Other-Grounds Film Festival is a multicultural, collaborative initiative exploring what it means to be human on Earth—and how we can build responsible, connected relationships with nature and each other. In the face of today’s overlapping crises—environmental, social, and ideological—we seek new ways to perceive, imagine, and relate to the world.
Bringing together films, conversations, and diverse perspectives, the festival highlights knowledge systems that have often been silenced. It amplifies voices fighting for sustainability, the rights of nature, and a more-than-human future.
Time: 2.-4. May, 2025
Space: Nordic House, Sæmundargata 11, Reykjavík
Colonial narratives are deeply woven into our timeline, spaces, and surroundings. The crises we face today—environmental, social, and political—are also crises of perception, imagination, and relational intelligence. How do we loosen the grip of ego-centric paradigms? Trapped in an anthropocentric, capitalist worldview, we struggle to see beyond the systems that shape our reality. How do we create space for other ways of being, knowing, and relating—ways that existed before, often silenced, when we lived in deeper connection with nature?
Day 1 (02.05) Community: (17:30- 20:00)
Day 2 (03.05) Knowledge-Gathering: (12:30-17:45)
Day 3 (04:05) Passing down Knowledge: (11:30-18:30)
Curators: Daria Testo, Juan Camilo.
Day 1: Community (link)
- Doors open at 17:30.
- Opening Ceremony with short speech, drinks and snacks (18:00-18:10);
- The River is Me (17 min) (18:10-18:27);
- Eálat (32 min) (18:27-19:00);
- Break (19:00-19:10);
- Round-table on Rights of Nature, nurtured by Dr. Angela Snæfellsjökuls Rawlings, Ole Martin Sandberg, Vena Naskrecka, Ólafur Páll Jónsson (19:10-20:00);
- Closing word: 20:00-20:10.
Day 2: Knowledge-Gathering (link)
On the second day of Other-Grounds Film Festival, we invite you into a space of Knowledge-Gathering—a day devoted to storytelling, memory, music, and ancestral wisdom. Join us for two evocative events that explore identity, belonging, and the more-than-human world through film and live performance.
- Doors Open at 12:30
- The Church Forest of Ethiopia (9 min), Honouring Darkness (18min) (13:00-13:30)
- Break (13:30-14:00)
- Mamu (15 min) + Interview with the MAMU director Aephie(14:00-15:00);
- Break (15:00-15:15)
- ICE (6 min), Qulleq (3 min), Shangri-La (23 min) (15:15-16:00);
- Break (16:00-16:30)
- The Sounds of Mongol Nutag with KHAIRKHAN (16:30-17:30);
- Short Closing word: 17:30-17:45.
Day 3: Passing down knowledge (link)
On the final day of the Other-Grounds Film Festival, we gather around the theme of Passing Down Knowledge—a day devoted to intergenerational wisdom, emotional awareness, and the stories we share for a more connected future. Join us for two deeply engaging and participatory events that center care, creativity, and collective reflection.
- Doors Open 11:30
- Roundtable on climate anxiety with Ungir Umhverfissinnar (12:00-13:00)
- Break (13:00-13:30)
- A Tree Is Like A Man (2019) (23 min), Time and Seashell (13 min), Baigal Nuur-Lake Baikal (10 min) (13:30-14:30).
- Break (14:30-15:30);
- Interactive crafts workshop for kids by Christoph Matt (eco-social designer) on imagining the world where biodiversity has disappeared (15:30-16:30)
- Break (16:30-17:00)
- I Am The River, The River Is Me (86 min) (17:00-18:30);
- Closing word: 18:30-18:45.
