Under an arctic sky – review
Under an Arctic Sky, a surf film by Chris Burkard about one of his journeys to Iceland.
A group of six surfers (Sam Hammer, Heidar Logi, Elli Thor Magnusson, Ingo Olsen, Timmy Reyes, and Justin Quintal) defy the dark and cold Icelandic winter and sets sail to search for waves along the north west coast of the island. As the worst storm in twenty years is approaching. It is set for a great adventure.
It’s said that with big risk comes big reward, and boy did they score! A long barreling right surrounded by the most mind-blowing snow covered landscape, accompanied only by a couple of friends. After the sun sets (around 3 pm) and it gets all dark again, there might still be an opportunity to go for a second session under Nordic lights. It appears like this epic reward was all worth risking your life for, or at least a few frozen toes.
For the longer format surf film, I have recently often found myself struggling to pay attention until the end, unless there is good story. This might be due to all the short web edits and Instagram clips, that make me feel like I on daily basis get over-exposed with great surfing already. So surfing alone is not enough to make a good surf movie that satisfies me anymore. This movie on though, left me with nothing more to wish for. A sequence of events scripted by no one but Mother Nature formed this story, which they managed to tell in a very compelling way. I didn’t pick up my phone to check Instagram one single time during the whole playing time.
it also made me all enthusiastic about adventurous cold water surfing and to inspire is the whole point of a surf film after all! I went straight home to go through my gear to make sure I’m ready for the upcoming winter season.
Adding the high quality images, amazing scenery and Chris Burkards ability to capture them in the best way imaginable, I think the movie was a success. I believe you will find the forty minutes well spent if you watch it. I will most definitely view it enough times, so when I in the future hear any of the tunes used in this film, I’ll drift away in my mind to a snowy Iceland.
Words by Magnus Ekermann
Chris Burkard is currently traveling around showing his movie, check out the tour schedule here.
The film will be available for purchase online from September 5th.
Update: It’s now available here!
More about Iceland:
http://surfears.com/2017/01/29/surfing-in-iceland/
http://surfears.com/2017/04/16/leyndarmalid-oldurnar-secret-waves/
