Director's Comments

By Hilmar Oddsson 

I see the film Cold Light as the greatest challenge of my career as a film director. The subject, life in the aftermath of a catastrophy, is a sensitive one and must be handled with respect.

Nature plays a central role in the film Cold Light. As it slowly transforms from the vivid and mild colours of summer and autumn to the cold blue light of
winter and snow, one can almost see it as one of the protagonists of the story. While the ocean has always claimed many fishermen’s lives, the mountain has symbolized the safety of the village, a shield against the harsh winter storm.
But as the snow gathers in the hillsides, a new and terrible  danger threatens the

community, the mountain unexpectedly turns against the  village and throws an avalanche over the settlement, the blue white snow killing without mercy. The colour blue will be a strong visual theme. The cold  light is blue, the colour of the sky and the ocean, snow, death and eternity. At the other end of the spectrum is the warm and yellow light of the sun, of life. The changing colours and the different faces of the natural landscape reflect the inner life of the community, where despair and hope are mirrored in the natural landscape: Man as part of nature must find peace with himself and his destiny.