LIGHT FROM LIGHT
A movie of great intimacy and mystery, Light From Light is a remarkable achievement.
- C. Mason Wells, Film Comment
Official Selection - 2019 Sundance Film Festival
A Grasshopper Film Release
A Ley Line Entertainment / Sailor Bear / Ten Acre Films production starring Marin Ireland, Jim Gaffigan, Josh Wiggins, and Atheena Frizzell.
Gifted with sometimes-prophetic dreams and a lifelong interest in the paranormal, Sheila (Marin Ireland) is asked to investigate a potential haunting at a Tennessee farmhouse. It’s there she meets Richard (Jim Gaffigan), a recent widower who believes his wife may still be with him. The investigation that ensues — which eventually pulls in Shelia’s son Owen and his classmate Lucy — forces them to confront the mysteries of their own lives.
What The Critics Are Saying
The difficulties of not knowing — what we are, what might happen, where we go when we die — are central to this second feature from the writer-director Paul Harrill. Fittingly enough, I find myself not quite knowing how best to describe this movie and the curious tremors of feeling that it gradually but assuredly induces. - Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times
An unconventional ghost story… made all the more transfixing by its defining delicacy and understatement. - David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
A gem likely to stay with anyone smart enough to seek it out. - Elizabeth Weitzman, The Wrap
In the span of only around 80 minutes, Harrill builds a space for his actors to fully inhabit their characters, leading to a blissfully satisfying, profoundly spiritual conclusion. - Jordan Raup, The Film Stage
Ireland and Gaffigan can express so much with a single glance and they’re both exquisite here, radiating intelligence and uncertainty...[W]hile the characters may be chasing apparitions in Light From Light, it restores one’s belief in other people, a somewhat radical and entirely galvanizing notion for the world we live in now. - Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest
Paul Harrill‘s intensely gorgeous feature Light From Light demonstrates that even the smallest of stories can have a big emotional impact. - Louisa Moore, Screen Zealots
Light From Light is a big, muddy river of a film. It is quiet, but it runs deep…Very highly recommended. - Joe Bendel, Unseen Films
An anti-ghost story that is so subtle and understated….leaves an emotional impact that will stay with you for days on end. - Edwanike Harbour, Tone Madison
Sure, Sheila has some "ghosts," and her large eyes carry the weariness of her past, but don't worry about getting struck with that metaphor: Harrill is a far more skilled and subtle director than that. - Kristen Yoonsoo Kim, The New York Times
The mysteries of life, death, grief, loneliness, and disappointment inform this well-acted and emotionally touching film written and directed by Paul Harrill. - Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Paul Harrill's radiant Light from Light dazzles gradually, illuminating our minds and hearts through its quietly affecting aesthetic. - Joel Mayward, Cinemayward
I'm tempted to call Light From Light the first ghost story I've ever seen that I completely believe. - Steven Greydanus, National Catholic Register
Presents one of the most dignified, humble, and perhaps even aspirational visions of American life I’ve seen in a movie for quite some time. - Jake Mulligan, DigBoston
Light From Light is a balm of a film, bathed in the atmosphere of the misty mountains surrounding the farmhouse and the nighttime soundtrack of the ever-present crickets’ song. Writer/director Paul Harrill’s empathetic work quietly captures the rhythms of his characters’ daily lives, while imbuing them (and their spiritual investigation) with an appreciation of what we gain and risk by being open to possibilities. — 2019 Sundance Film Festival catalog
INTERVIEWS
Film Comment: Paul Harrill interviewed by C. Mason Wells.
RogerEbert.com: Serenity Now - Paul Harrill interviewed by Michał Oleszczyk
Vox: How Light from Light’s team used ‘emotional research’ to build an unusual ghost-hunter story - Interview by Alissa Wilkinson.
Filmmaker Magazine: The Soul that Remains: Paul Harrill interviewed by Graham Carter. [Also in Fall 2019 print edition.]
National Catholic Register: Of Grief and Ghosts: Interview With the Writer-Director of Light from Light - Interview by Steven Greydanus.
The Film Stage: Light From Light Director Paul Harrill on the Comfort in Ghost Stories and Breaking Screenwriting Rules - Interview by Jordan Raup.
Il Manifesto: Lo spettro della solitudine [“The Spectre of Solitude”] Interview by Giulia d'Agnolo Vallan. (Italian)
SAG-AFTRA: Foundation Q+A: Marin Ireland, Jim Gaffigan, and Paul Harrill Q+A [video]
Build by Yahoo! [video]: Marin Ireland, Jim Gaffigan & Paul Harrill on Light from Light
THEATRICAL RELEASE
NYC: Quad Cinema
PHILADELPHIA: Ritz at the Bourse
HUDSON, NY: Time & Space Limited
LOS ANGELES: Nuart (Landmark)
SAN JOSE: 3 Below Theaters
VANCOUVER, WA: Kiggins Theatre
CAMAS, WA: Liberty Theatre
ATLANTA: Midtown Art Cinema
HARTFORD: Real Art Ways
WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NY: Performing Arts Center
OKLAHOMA CITY: Oklahoma City Museum of Art
SAN FRANCISCO: Landmark Opera Plaza
BERKELEY: Landmark Shattuck
LAKE WORTH, FL: Lake Worth Playhouse
BOULDER: The Boedecker Theater
SEATTLE: Grand Illusion Cinema
SANTA FE: Jean Cocteau Cinema
KNOXVILLE: Central Cinema
NASHVILLE: The Belcourt
COLUMBUS: Gateway Film Center
ALBUQUERQUE: Guild Cinema
TALLAHASSEE: Tallahassee Film Society
AUSTIN: Violet Crown Cinema
BOSTON - The Brattle Theatre
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
Sundance Film Festival - WORLD PREMIERE
Wisconsin Film Festival - April 4-11
Sarasota Film Festival - April 4-11
Montclair Film Festival - May 3-12
Chicago Critics Film Festival - May 17-23 - CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Oak Cliff Film Festival - June 6-9
Sidewalk Film Festival - August 19-25
CineFest - Miskolc International Film Festival (Hungary) - September 13-21
Chesapeake Film Festival - October 3-10
Film Fest Tucson - October 10-12
Modern Cinema Festival at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth - October 11-13
Heartland Film Festival - October 10-20
San Diego International Film Festival - October 15-20
American Film Festival (Poland) - November 5-11
Southern Screen Festival - November 7-10
Göteborg Film Festival (Sweden) - January 24-February 3, 2020
Victoria Film Festival (Canada) - February 7-16, 2020
Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Film
East Tennessee State University - Johnson City, TN - March 2, 2020
Clayton Center for the Arts - Maryville, TN - March 3, 2020
Oxford College of Emory University - Oxford, GA - March 4, 2020
Presbyterian College - Clinton, SC - March 5, 2020
Global Education Center - Nashville, TN - March 7, 2020
Georgia Southern University - Statesboro, GA - March 9, 2020