In the lead-up to its Toronto Film Festival premiere, Icelandic director Runar Runarsson’s When the Light Breaks has been picked up by international distributors. The film first received critical acclaim at Cannes and is being managed by Paris-based The Party Film Sales.
The film was shot in 16mm, and stars Ellen Hall (Let Me Fall) as Oona, whom Runarsson previously described in an interview with diverse “As an outsider to the events unfolding around her, even though she is actually at the centre of them.” This is Runarsson's fourth feature film. He achieved international success in 2008 with his Oscar-nominated short film Two Birds. He went on to direct the 2011 Cannes Directors' Fortnight winner Volcano, the 2015 San Sebastian Film Festival winner The Birds and the 2019 Valladolid and Lübeck Film Festival winner Echo.
Following the film’s Cannes premiere and screenings at Karlovy Vary and Munich Film Festivals, Party Film Sales has theatrical release deals for “When the Light Breaks” in Japan (Bitters End), the UK and Ireland (Modern Films), Germany and Austria (Neue Visionen), Taiwan (Proview Entertainment), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films), Portugal (Nitrato), Sweden (Njuta), China (Hugoeast), Brazil (Imovision), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Vertigo), India (Bigtree Entertainment), and Ukraine (Kiyvmusicfilm).
Previous sales have closed in Italy (Movies Inspired), Switzerland (Xenix), Norway (Arthaus), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Vertigo), Greece (Cinobo), Israel (New Cinema), Poland (Aurora), Turkey (Bir Film) and the Baltic States (Estofilm). The film will be released by Jour2fête in France, Cherry Pickers in the Benelux, Zagreb Film Festival in Croatia and Sam Film in Iceland.
Runarsson produced the film in collaboration with Heather Millard of Iceland's Compass Films, in collaboration with local company Halibut, Dutch company Revolver, French company Eaux Vives/Jour2Fête, and Croatian company MP Film.
The Icelandic director said the film was inspired by a personal event. “Since I experienced the loss of a friend when I was young, I wanted to deal with the emotions I felt on the day it happened by telling a universal story,” he said. diverse“Another recent loss in my life has reawakened this desire, and the story has become more real.”
