Against Iceland’s rugged landscapes and fly-fishing tradition, Valentin Meneveau celebrates community rooted in nature and the beauty of simplicity
Magnifying the textures of life and the beauty found in simplicity, director Valentin Meneveau lenses Iceland’s otherworldly untamed terrain as a starting point for community in short documentary Sea Salt, Salmon, Psyche.
Travelling to the Big Laxá River as a center for the nation’s fly-fishing tradition, the film explores the deep connections that form when people and nature come together in a meditation on place and presence shot on 16mm film. Accompanied by culinary guide Theophilos Constantinou, the journey takes us from the Naustavík Mountains, to the steaming geothermal fields of Hafnarfjörður and the dramatic volcanic beaches of Grindavik, celebrating the cultural tradition woven through the raw Icelandic landscape with cooking as a ritual for connecting with the elements.
“I love shooting on film for the commitment we have to make to each frame of a limited supply. The medium requires control and planning, and yet, a lot of the film’s essence remains hinged around serendipity. From catching the first snowfall of the season, to Marteinn inviting us to join his fly-fishing community days before our arrival in Iceland – the unforeseen called for spontaneity.”
Through Constantinou’s philosophy of simplicity and the majesty of Iceland’s surreal topography, Sea Salt, Salmon, Psyche honors the bonds formed when we share in the experience of nature, in a tribute to the process of slowing down and becoming immersed in what surrounds us.