RECOMMENDED: 50th anniversary of the event depicted in The Day Iceland Stood Still 2024 / 1975-2025 / 2025.10.24. ♀️✊🪧🗣📣❗

www.thedayicelandstoodstill.com

The Day Iceland Stood Still

On October 24, 1975, 90% of Icelandic women went on strike and showed their importance in the Icelandic economy. The day marked the beginning of Icelanders’ journey towards their position on the equality scale. This is the best story you’ve never heard, about the power of women to transform their position in society.

When Oct. 24, 1975 was declared as “Women’s Day Off” in Iceland, some 90% of the island’s women refused to work, cook or take care of the children. The country was brought to a standstill.

Thanks to Clara Zetkin, people worldwide have been celebrating International Women’s Day for 114 years. Yet, it remains just one day among 365—while in many countries, true gender equality is still far from reality. But 50 years ago, in Iceland’s small yet remarkable nation, empowered women demonstrated what happens when they collectively withdraw from daily life. The result: The Day Iceland Stood Still.

❯❯ „The Day Iceland Stood Still“ eða Dagurinn sem Ísland stöðvaðist er heimildamynd í fullri lengd um kvennafrídaginn á Íslandi. 24.október 1975 eftir Pamelu Hogan og Hrafnhildi Gunnarsdóttur. Myndin er mestmegnis á ensku með íslenskum texta.

Þann dag lögðu 90% íslenskra kvenna niður störf og margar tóku þátt í kvennafrídeginum á Lækjartorgi og víða um land. Samstaða íslenskra kvenna þvert á pólitískar línur markað byrjun baráttunnar fyrir jafnrétti karla og kvenna og lagði hornsteininn að einum stórkostlegustu þjóðfélagsbreytingum sem íslenskt samfélag hefur gengið í gegnum.

Þessi saga er í fyrsta skipti sögð á hvíta tjaldinu í skemmtilegri og leiftrandi blöndu af viðtölum, safnaefni og litríkum teiknimyndum. Myndin var frumsýnd á Toronto Hot Docs í vor og hefur núna tekið flugið og ferðast til Kóreu, Japan, USA, Þýskalands, Spánar og Frakklands til að nefna eitthvað.

❯❯ Iceland is known for its glaciers, volcanoes, and leading nearly the whole damn world in women’s rights and gender equality. How did this Nordic island nation manage to achieve what so few superpower countries have been able to?

Zero in on October 24, 1975, when 90% of Iceland’s women—completely fed up with being disregarded, underpaid, and unrecognizedin the workplace and in the home—walked off their jobs and brought the country to a standstill. This remarkable true story is told here for the first time in a vibrant mix of interviews with those who organized and participated in the massive “women’s dayoff” event and color-soaked animation recreating key moments in the movement.

The spark was ignited that day and, with continued effort and powerful collaboration, real change followed. Perfectly timed with the lead-up to the strike’s 50th anniversary, this doc is subversive, funny, and fist-pumpingly galvanizing. —D. Quinones

A documentary by Pamela Hogan and Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir.

 

Director: Pamela Hogan

Producers: Pamela Hogan, Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir, Sam Jinishian, Jeffrey Kimball, Jeff Kimball

Running time: 1h 11m

Languages: English, Icelandic

 

The Day Iceland Stood Still - trailer (2024)

 

 

 

 

 

Information: icelandicfilms.info, one-world.global