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Cold Light (Kaldaljós)
IcelandMagic, catastrophe and loss haunt Grimur's past and they look like intruding on his present. A loner in his 40s, Grimur is gruff and introverted, having no real contact with others in his small, snow-bound Icelandic town. He begins to come out of his shell when he commences a drawing class at a local college, befriending the lecturer and eventually becoming her lover. Hope beckons'
This Berlin Film Festival sleeper reveals its story of mystery and tragedy in childhood flashbacks that seem to parallel events occurring in Grimur's adult life. What he thought were naïve boyhood beliefs in supernatural forces and premonitions flood into his life once more. His pain and deep regret at a terrible past tragedy freezes his emotions and actions; he seems doomed to repeat the mistakes that have left him with a life of sorrow. Atmospheric, forbidding and exceptionally well photographed, Cold Light is one the Festival's hidden treasures.
'Well-acted and beautiful to look at' [director] Hilmar Oddsson shows the majesty of the terrain as being both threatening and welcoming. It's one of the film's major assets.' -Variety
D Hilmar Oddsson P Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, Anna Maria Karlsdóttir S Hilmar Oddsson, Freyr Thormódsson WS Media Luna Entertainment TD 35mm/Col/2004/93mins
Hilmar Oddsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1957. Films include: Eins og skepnan deyr (1986), Tears of Stone (1996), No Trace (1999).