A long debate followed after the screening of When the Light Breaks at the Čas Cinema. The film, which opened the Un certain regard section at this year’s Cannes festival, narrates the story of young Una, whose life turns upside down within 24 hours. A girl who is about to complete her bachelor’s degree, just like her friends, has to cope with the tragic death of a loved one. The viewers asked director Rúnar Rúnarsson about the cast or the shots of sunsets illustrating the story. The Icelanders’ custom of hugging each other was also mentioned. “For the young generation, hugging is totally normal. My generation still finds it quite awkward, though it’s quite useful in our eternal winter,” the filmmaker laughed.
The questions posed also concerned the movie soundtrack, which underscores the emotions. Apart from an Eurovision song, the director also used Jóhann Jóhannsson’s composition Odi et Amo, originally written for theatre and featured in a film for the first time. “Jóhann and I grew up on the same street. He was a few years older and I was always a fan,” Rúnarsson recalled of the famous film composer, who died prematurely in 2018.
The director also explained his directorial approach to the audience: “In all my films I follow from real events and combine them with fiction. My overriding principle is that the movie must stem from my heart. That’s what I tell my students. I ask them: Do you want to be good or the best? Because the only thing you can be best at is being true to yourselves.”
