Hlynur Pálmason's A WHITE, WHITE DAY selected for Cannes Critics' Week
A White, White Day, the second feature from Icelandic writer/director Hlynur Pálmason, is one of seven feature films that have been selected for competition in the International Critics' Week, one of the parallel sections of the Cannes Film Festival. This will be the film's world premiere. Critics' Week was founded in 1961 by the French Association of Film Critics and will take place from May 15 – 23 this year.
In a remote Icelandic town, where an off-duty police chief begins to suspect a local man of having had an affair with his late wife, who died in a tragic accident two years earlier. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. A story of grief, revenge and unconditional love.
A White, White Day was written and directed by Hlynur Pálmason. The film was produced by Anton Máni Svansson, with executive producer Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson from Iceland's Join Motion Pictures and is an Icelandic/Danish/Swedish co-production. Co-producers are Katrin Pors, Mikkel Jersin and Eva Jakobsen for Snowglobe (DK), Anthony Muir for Film i Väst (SE) and Nima Yousefi for Hobab (SE).
The film stars Ingvar E. Sigurdsson and Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir. It was shot by Maria von Hausswolff and edited by Julius Krebs Damsbo. Sound designer is Lars Halvorsen, production design is by Hulda Helgadóttir and music by Edmund Finnis. International sales for A White, White Day are being handled by New Europe Film Sales (jan@neweuropefilmsales.com).
As mentioned above, A White, White Day is Hlynur Pálmason's second feature. His first, the Danish/Icelandic Winter Brothers, premiered in the main competition at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2017, where it won four awards. The film went on to win over 30 awards worldwide, including nine Robert Awards and two Bodil Awards in Denmark. Hlynur Pálmason also won last year's Dreyer Award for outstanding artistic achievement.
Four films with Icelandic ties have previously been selected for Critics' Week. Last year, Benedikt Erlingson's Woman at War won four awards at Critics‘ Week, including the SACD Award, which is given annually by the French Society of Dramatic Actors and Composers to one of the features in the competition. The other Icelandic films that have been selected for Critics' Week are Ingalo, by Ásdís Thoroddsen, in 1992; the Norwegian/Icelandic coproduction The Bothersome Man, by Jens Lien, in 2006; and the French/Icelandic short film Vikingar, by Magali Magistry, in 2013.
Visit Critics' Week website for further information about the competition.