Kjerringøy is a small community nestled in the Arctic Circle between steep Norwegian cliffs and by a sea inlet teeming with boats—a memento of the Vikings' heyday. The town is also known as “bloody women island”: a name, says Ulf Mikalsen, the Norwegian boat builder profiled in the short The Fox of the Bloody Woman Island, that is “linked to how women waved off the men leaving for winter fishing with their underwear.”
Filmmakers Vern Cummins and Jamie Gallant contacted Mikalsen with a bit of help from Google Translate, asking to follow his daily routine as a traditional Nordland boat builder. “He has lived around the same neighbors for almost 30 years, and every first Friday of the month they alternate between each one’s houses and have dinner,” says Cummins. “They also have a songbook which works as a traditional Norwegian karaoke of sorts.”
Mikalsen eschews the usual trip south to avoid two months of near 24- hour darkness and gruelling weather. This Lord of the Fjords battles the cold with a mix of skinny-dipping, tour-guide stints at the local museum, and carpentry work.
Kjerringøy in numbers (and words)
Hot beverages per day:
Several rounds of coffee in the morning. In the evening, a couple of spiced vodka shots that Ulf makes and two cups of tea.
Drink of choice:
A beer called Nordland Pils that has a Nordland boat on the can.
Hours of darkness in winter / summer:
Around June, it's light for 24 hours; on the flipside, from December to January there's no sun.
Dish most eaten on the island.Fish: cod, salmon, whale.
Number of inhabitants:
350.
Proportion of female inhabitants of the island:
50-50 ratio between men and women.
Song played in the film:“Sunny Afternoon” by The Kinks with lyrics rewritten by Ulf about how people in Kjerringøy thought they were going to be famous because of a Gerard Depardieu’s movie shot there (I Am Dina, 2002), but they were just extras.
Ingredients of a reindeer roast:
Reindeer, a lot of salt, Arctic berries, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and mushroom cream sauce.