At the last Critics’ Week in Cannes 2019, critics took notice of Hlynur Pálmason’s second feature, A White, White Day. Pálmason’s debut, Winter Brothers, had also impressed ever since its award-winning premiere in Locarno in 2017, and the strong visuals and atmosphere carried into his new work. Set in the director’s native Iceland, A White, White Day is a complex examination of grief centered around a man who lost his wife and is now caring for his granddaughter. At times poignantly obscure and unsettling with its use of ellipses, this brightly-lit but dark at its core psychological drama is not without humor, resulting in one of the most peculiar filmic experiences of the year.

Actor Ingvar Sigurdsson is a crucial asset for Pálmason, delivering a performance of incredible, textured physicality and an ability to inhabit fully the steely morals of the character. Sigurdsson joins in alongside Pálmason for an interview with me at the New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw.