Rúnar Rúnarsson’s magnificent film tells the story of the untimely death of a young person and how the living – shocked in their grief – try to come to terms with the loss. The film tells the story of 24 hours that change her life from Una’s point of view. Una is studying art and has fallen in love with her fellow student Diddi. They have an intimate affair, which should turn into a relationship as soon as Diddi breaks up with his girlfriend Klara from his hometown.

The next morning, he wants to take the first plane to talk to her. The flight is canceled, Diddi takes a car and gets into a mass accident in the car tunnel. The whole of Iceland is in shock, but Una finds no real place for her grief among Diddi’s friends; for the others she is a friend of the dead man, but not more. When Klara arrives, Una no longer knows what to do with her grief.

Rúnar Rúnarsson, born 1977 in Reykjavik/Iceland, works as screenwriter and director. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2009. His career started in 2011 with his debut film VOLCANO which received 17 international awards. In 2015, his second feature SPARROWS also had an impressive festival run, with 20 awards worldwide – similar to his third feature film, ECHO, with six international awards. WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS opened the “Un Certain Regard” section in Cannes this year.

Filmography: 2006 THE LAST FARM, 2008 2 BIRDS, 2009 ANNA (all short films), 2011 VOLCANO, 2015 SPARROWS, 2019 ECHO, 2024 WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS

Awards (selection): Youth Jury Award (Festival du Film de Cabourg, France 2024), Award for Best Film and FIPRESCI Award (Cinehill Film Festival, Croatia 2024)