A Chinese documentary about The Reykjavík City Library

The documentary maker Karlotta Jiaqian Chen didn't know a lot about The Reykjavík City Library before she took part as an extra in an introductory video made by the library. There she got chatting with a project manager, working at the library, and she became fascinated by the library's activities. She got in contact and asked for permission to do a documentary to introduce the library to Chinese audience online. 

The outcome is a 20 minute long documentary about The Reykjavík City Library, accessible at the Chinese video platform Bilibili, which is similar to YouTube. There Valgeir Gestsson - or Valli, as we know him - has the leading role, but other staff members and library users also talk about the library. 

The video has already gotten more than 75.000 views on Bilibili - and even more on the Chinese Twitter. It has also gotten a lot of comments, and Chen encouraged the viewers to write their comments in English so that Icelanders could understand them. The comments both praise the library and the main character, Valli, but people also philosophize about libraries and the technological development of societies. 

Chen and Valli are currently working on an English version of the documentary and we will be sure to let you know once it's ready. Untill then you can watch the Chinese version on Bilibili, most of the people speak English, and it has English subtitles as well. 

Enjoy!