This year’s TIFF FOCUS, curated by Blerina Hankollari, spotlights Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson, whose films have quietly left a distinctive imprint on Nordic cinema. He depicts people caught in the delicate tug of grief and untold dramas of daily routines, crafting his cinematic poetics through minimalism and gentle rhythms of time. 

Beginning with his seminal short The Last Farm, which tenderly considers the transition between life and death, he progresses to Volcano and Sparrows, each work a subtle dissection of family ties and the fragility they harbour. Echo assembles a constellation of vignettes set against the silence of a midwinter Christmas. Each fragment represents a voice that, in its smallness, assesses the width of a civilisation.  Along with them, the program includes the films O and When the Light Breaks, which explore the abyss of a self-destructive human being and the impossibility of grief.  

Rúnar Rúnarsson’s cinema is rooted in Nordic minimalism and reflects the emotional undercurrents of daily existence. His short and feature-length films—including The Last Farm, O, Volcano, Sparrows, Echo, and When the Light Breaks—depict central characters in transitional states: between youth and adulthood, life and death, strength and fragility. Rúnarsson’s poetic realism is expressed through silence, raw everyday rituals, and nature as an almost breathing entity. A poetic fiber weaves the fabric of his cinematic world, while his characters find themselves in ethically complex situations. His portrait of Iceland is intimate, tender, and poetic.

Tribute to Rúnar Rúnarsson

1. Volcano by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Iceland, Denmark | 2011 | 95′
2. Echo by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Iceland, France | 2019 | 79′
3. When the Light Breaks by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Iceland, France, Holland, Croatia | 2024 | 90′
4. The Last Farm by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Iceland | 2004 | 17′
5. Two Birds by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Iceland | 2008 | 15′
6. Anna by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Denmark | 2009 | 35′
7. O (Circle) by Rúnar Rúnarsson | Iceland, Sweden | 2024 | 20′