Above Photo: roarmag.org
With the people of Iceland back in the streets following the Panama Papers scandal, this film on the 2008 “pots and pans revolution” provides some essential context on the latest outburst of popular outrage.
October 2008, Iceland was hit by one of the worst financial disasters any nation in the world had ever experienced. In response, citizens took to the streets in what has since become known as the “Pots and Pans Revolution”.
In response to widespread media silence and a budding wave of popular movements, this documentary explores how and why the people of Iceland resisted the measures imposed by their government following the crisis of 2008 and how they forced their government to resign in an attempt to forge a new political path.
Filmed in Reykjavik between 2012 and 2014, the film meets the instigators of the revolution and follows the most important National Referendum in Iceland’s history, giving the Icelandic people the opportunity to decide whether to support a constitution that had been created through a popular grassroots movement. We also explore the lessons that can be learned from these experiences internationally.
This documentary is a timely portrayal of a powerful social movement and its struggle to change the very meaning of democracy.