When the Light Breaks + Shorts | West Nordic Film Fest

Name: When the Light Breaks + Shorts | West Nordic Film Fest
Start: 2025-03-15T16:15:00-04:00
End: 2025-03-15T18:15:00-04:00
Location: 58 Park Ave, New York, NY, United States, New York 10016

Schedule

Sat Mar 15 2025 at 04:15 pm to 06:15 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

58 Park Ave, New York, NY, United States, New York 10016 | New York, NY

Join us on March 14 & 15 for the festival West Nordic Film Days, a celebration of cinema from Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands! Presented in partnership with Nordic National Museum in Seattle, in-person screenings will take place at Scandinavia House in New York and Majestic Bay Theatres in Seattle on Friday and Saturday. Curated by Birgir Thor Møller, the selection of films at West Nordic Film Days reflects the current development and tendencies in West Nordic cinema as well as the diversity, combining films by prolific, prizewinning directors and upcoming filmmakers, who all live in and tell their stories from very different parts of the region.
The 4:15 PM afternoon session on Saturday, March 15 will include the feature film When the Light Breaks (Ljóbrot, 2024), followed by the short film O (2024), both directed by Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson. This screening session follows the opening night screening on Friday and a Saturday afternoon session at 2 PM and will be followed by an evening session at 6:30 PM.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀 /𝗟𝗷𝗼́𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁
Dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland/Netherlands/Croatia/France, 2024 | 80 min
In Icelandic with English subtitles
A young woman loses her boyfriend in a terrible accident, but must bear the grief alone, as their relationship was a big secret in their small group of friends. The captivating and beautiful film takes place over the course of a single summer day, and encompasses a range of strong emotions from fear, despair and sadness to happiness and hope – all depicted with director Rúnar Rúnarsson’s mix of humor, warmth and raw poetry. Since its premiere at last year’s film festival in Cannes, When the Light Breaks has won several international awards, including Best Feature Film at the Nuuk International Film Festival 2024 and most recently Best Nordic Film at the Gothenburg Film Festival 2025.
𝗢
Dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland, 2024 | 20 min.
In Icelandic with English subtitles
Rúnar Rúnarsson’s latest film, the short film O (2024), is a poetic and powerful portrait of a man’s battle with his own demons during his daughter’s wedding. Shot in black-and-white by Sophia Olsson, the cinematography emphasizes the poetic visual style characteristic of all Rúnarsson’s films.