From this Thursday evening, Arte is broadcasting “Blackport”, an Icelandic series which follows the inhabitants of a small fishing port in the 80s when they have to face a law privatizing the resources of the ocean.
What is it about ?
The introduction of fishing quotas by the Icelandic government in the mid-1980s upset the balance of an entire village. Secretary to the town hall, Harpa takes advantage of a tragic accident to save her husband from bankruptcy and create a fishing empire, thanks to the new quota system…
Blackport arrives on Arte on Thursdays March 23 and 30 from 8:55 p.m. The episodes are already available on arte.tv until May 28.
A social fresco of 80s Iceland
With Blackport, the three creators Gísli Örn Garðarsson (Ragnarök, Children), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Fortitude, The Witcher) and Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir (The Valhalla Murders) have decided to highlight an unknown part of Icelandic history.
Through the series, they tell how the sea and its riches, the national treasure of a country that for a long time only lived off the fishing industry, became the property of a privileged few.
Blackport takes us to a small fishing town lost in the west of the island and tells the story of a group of friends who will embark on the fishing race.
With the backdrop of the major events that marked the 80s, such as the Reagan-Gorbachev meeting in Reykjavik or the legalization of beer, via the emergence of punk culture, this unique series, tinged with a good dose of black humour, offers an offbeat social chronicle of this pivotal period in Icelandic history.
Although Blackport focuses on a local issue, the series gives us a much more political and economic narrative than we might have thought. Note that the series won the prize for the best international series at the 2021 Series Mania Festival.