Cannes 2024: When the Light Breaks inaugurates Un Certain Regard
Fiction feature When the Light Breaks, written and directed by Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson, which is a Croatian minority co-production, inaugurates the competition programme Un Certain Regard, on Wednesday, 15th May, at the Théâtre Claude Debussy. A portion of the Croatian film crew, headed by co-producer Igor A. Nola and Majda Pilat of MP Film Production, attends the film’s world premiere in Cannes.
“The screening went phenomenally, the audience was so thrilled it gave the film a long applause and standing ovations. The film and the crew were presented by the festival’s delegate general Thierry Frémaux who arrived at the Debussy right after announcing ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ at a different auditorium”, said the co-producer of When the Light Breaks, Igor A. Nola.
Apart from Nola and Majda Pilat ahead of the Croatian production company MP Film Production, as well as the Icelandic portion of the film crew headed by director Rúnar Rúnarsson and cast members Elín Hall, Mikael Kaaber, Baldur Einarsson and Katla Njálsdóttir, Croatian crew members Ranko Pauković as sound designer, sound editor Ivan Zelić, production manager Vanja Sremac, and casting director Igor Sestrić also attended the film’s world premiere in Cannes.
The audience’s elation at the Debussy hall poured over into reviews published after the screening, such as the one in Variety describing the films as a maelstrom of youthful emotion playing out between two sunsets”. The full review is available on this link.
Before the premiere, the film’s director Rúnar Rúnarsson also gave an interview for the Cannes Film Festival official website, which you can catch here.
For MP Film Production, When the Light Breaks is their third collaboration with Rúnar Rúnarsson, initiated with Sparrows and later followed up with their work on Echo.
The film is a co-production between Compass Films, with partners Halibut, Revolver, MP Film Production and Eaux de Vives/Jour2Fete, with producers Heather Millard and Rúnar Rúnarsson, as well as co-producers Igor A. Nola, Raymond van der Kaaij, Mike Downey, Xenia Maingot and Sarah Chazelle. Photos from the premiere are available for download here.
The Cannes Film Festival runs until 24th May, which is when Nebojša Slijepčević’s fiction short, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, is also scheduled to have its world premiere at the festival. An Antitalent production (Katarina Prpić, Danijel Pek), the film is in the running for the Palme d'Or in the short film competition.
Cover photograph: When the Light Breaks film crew on the red carpet at the 77th Cannes Film Festival