VERDICT: In this slantwise ethnographic documentary, Rakel Jonsdottir explores the concept of shared fridges in Iceland to create microcosmic portraits of place and community.
There is perhaps a clue in the title of Empathfridges as to how its director view’s the Freedge movement.
Originating in Germany around a decade ago, and since spreading to various other countries around the world, community fridges – sometimes referred to as Freedges – are a mutual aid movement in which food can be shared to combat food poverty and reduce waste. Rakel Jonsdottir’s film, which was part of a wider academic project, sought out a number of these fridges and the people that use them in her native Iceland.
The film opens with a brief description of what a Freedge is, focusing primarily on the food waste element. What follows comprises durational images of six Rekjavik fridges and one in the nearby Mosfellsbaer, capturing static takes of the objects in their setting. Jonsdottir’s decision to create what is, in essence, a landscape documentary in its form, allows for the surroundings of the fridges to inform our understanding of the movement, as well as letting the very presence of the fridge come to represent something about the places in which they are place. The object and location become entwined in their meaning-making.
Interjected amongst the lingering scenes are collages of still images of the fridges filled, sometimes to overflowing with food. The film accompanies these images with audio of various people speaking about movement and about the use of the fridges, drawing out the mutual aid benefits alongside the environmental impacts. The touches on the benefits of food sharing both for those in dire need, and those able to help and provide. The relationship is nourishing in both directions and despite its formal austerity, Jonsdottir’s film absolutely exemplifies the empathy it finds in the Freedge’s existence.
