Mar 8: Heima

One of the finest concert films ever made was created by Sigur Rós in 2006 and released in 2007.

Heima means "at home". 

And home for the band, is Iceland.

This was a homecoming tour after a lengthy world tour.

The music was stripped back, and there were acoustic performances in a number of unusual venues.

The band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in iceland. they hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something inspirational.

On their way they went to ghost towns, outsider art shrines, national parks, small community halls and the absolute middle-of-nowhere-ness of the highland wilderness, as well as playing the largest gig of their career (and in icelandic history) at their homecoming Reykjavik show.

‘Heima’ (icelandic for “at home” or “homeland”), truly, shows Sigur Rós as never before. whereas seeing the group live is normally a large-scale and sometimes overwhelming experience, making full use of lights and mesmeric visuals, ‘Heima’ was always intended to reveal more of what was actually going on on stage. it does this via long-held close-ups and a rare intimate proximity, without ever once breaking the spell.

Loosely based on a documentary format – and including personal reflections from the band – ‘Heima’ also serves as an alternative primer for Iceland the country, which is revealed as less stag destination-du-jour and more desolate, magical place where human beings have little right to trespass.

'Heima’ was directed by Dean Deblois, a long-time fan of the band and director of the Oscar-nominated animated feature ‘Lilo & Stitch’, using an Icelandic crew.

Watch a version of it here:

Where was the film made? 

This website lists where they say the filmed performances took place.

• MIKLATUN, REYKJAVIK: The largest of the concerts in question took place in this small park in Reykjavik city. Miklatun is better known locally as Klambratun and is also location of Kjarvalsstadir Art Museum. 
• ASBYRGI, HUSAVIK: A fantastic arena for a concert and everything else for that matter. Asbyrgi sits in a very peculiar depression in the landscape and offer excellent shelter from winds from particular directions. Surrounded by a half-moon shaped cliffs up to hundred meters in height this is one of the absolute must-stops in the country. 
• DJUPAVIK, HOLMAVIK: This was perhaps the most intimate of the concerts in question. Population of Djupavik is zilch, nill and not much there but an abandoned fish factory which has been partly turned into a summer hotel. This is very much off the beaten track of most travelers but that might appeal to many too.
• OLAFSVIK, OLAFSVIK: The tiny village of Olafsvik may not look or offer much but this was the location of one of Sigur Rósar concerts. The routes into town are very scenic and the magnificent, if disappearing, Snaefellsjokull glacier towers above.
• ISAFJORDUR, ISAFJORDUR: Isafjordur town is the largest place found in the Westfjords of Iceland and as such pretty lively. Straight across from the bay is the nature preserve Hornstrandir which is one of the very finest places in the country.
• SEYDISFJORDUR, SEYDISFJORDUR: A tiny village in the East of Iceland with majestic mountains formed all around it. This is the current summer stop of the only passenger ferry sailing regularly to Iceland.
• KARAHNJUKAR, EGILSSTADIR: This is way up in the highland close to where the huge Karahnjukar dam stands. Protesting the dam was one reason why they played here and funnily enough, next to a dam, totally without electricity.
• OXNADALUR, AKUREYRI: Oxnadalur valley is a spectacular valley you drive through on your way to or from Akureyri in the North of Iceland. Some of Iceland´s most jagged peaks join any traveler here for and below a river runs through it. This is also the birthplace of one of Iceland´s most famous poets.