When the Light Comes (1998)

When the Light Comes (Belgium: Licht, Netherlands: Waar blijft het licht, Germany: Die Stunde des Lichts) is a 1998 German-Dutch /Belgian romantic adventure film drama directed by Stijn Coninx, and starring Francesca Vanthielen, Joachim Król and Rick Engelkes. The film is based on an autobiography of the then 19-year-old student in Amsterdam Heleen van der Laan who spent the winter in Svalbard living with a fur trapper. It was adapted for the screen with the aid of Jean van de Velde. Essentially a love story set in northern Scandinavia, the film has "themes of isolation, forced cohabitation and relationship building between two totally different people in extremely harsh living conditions". The score was composed by Dirk Brossé and the film was produced by Favourite Films and distributed by Concorde Film.

Synopsis

Young Ellen decides to take a boat journey to Svalbard in northern Norway. She ends up wandering in Spitsbergen, where she spends winter in a cabin on a fjord surrounded by glaciers. She shares a cabin with a Norwegian trapper named Lars as she tries to adapt to the perilous climate and face dangers such as fighting polar bears.

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