A cinema screen made from ice harvested by Volvo Construction Equipment machines will be featured for the first time at the Stockholm International Film Festival next month.
It’s not often that Volvo Construction Equipment gets the glamorous jobs, but installing a giant movie screen made entirely of ice for A-listers and film stars to watch comes pretty close. Volvo wheel loaders have been used to harvest the ice for the construction of the screen, which will be installed in Stockholm next month to celebrate the 20th Stockholm International Film Festival.
Weighing around 10 metric tonnes, the screen will be crafted from ultra-clear ice harvested in slabs from the frozen Torne River in northernmost Sweden, near the Arctic Circle. The ice for the screen was carved from the river in March, when the temperature was minus 24 degrees Celsius. This will be the first time a feature film is shown on an ice screen.
The screen is being created by a team from Sweden’s famous Ice Hotel. Given the complexity of the project, the Ice Hotel’s subcontractor called on the expertise of Volvo Construction Equipment. An L70 and an L50 were used to harvest the ice for the 5-meter-wide and 3-meter-high screen, which will be set up in an undisclosed location in central Stockholm. A Volvo wheel loader is also expected to be used to hoist the screen on to a podium on Nov. 20 for outdoor film buffs to watch two special anniversary feature films. The screen will then be pulled down after two days of film screenings.
Ice Hotel creative director Arne Bergh said about 5,000 tonnes of ice was harvested to create the screen and to build next year’s Ice Hotel.
“The harvesting involves attaching a large chainsaw with a hydraulic engine to the tractors so that they can carve the ice,” said Bergh. “Then the tractors drive the ice to our storage facility on the shore of the Torne River, which is kept at a constant temperature of minus 5 degrees Celsius. Our sub-contractor chose Volvo machines because they can be trusted to do a job like this well.”
The Stockholm International Film Festival, which will take place Nov. 18-29, has a precedent for quirky innovations: in 2000, it was the first to launch an internet festival and in 2007, it set up an online forum where directors and the audience could work together on films. The festival takes place every year in November, with screenings of more than 170 films from more than 40 countries. Celebrity guests have included Dennis Hopper, Ang Lee, Lauren Bacall and Terry Gilliam.
For more information, check the box for Reader Service No. 19 at http://www.freeproductinfo.net/rer.
