A Happy Day

Three teenage boys are stuck at a remote youth asylum center in snow-laden northern Norway. Thoughtful and poetic Hamid, together with the always sensible Aras and easy-going Imael, is plotting his escape. Up and over the mountains, a land of infinite possibility and freedom awaits. But they have a deadline. On their 18th birthdays, each will be feted with a party and then promptly processed for return to their country of origin — places to which they all have tenuous connections. But then one day Aida shows up at the center, turning Hamid’s world, and the boys’ plans, upside down.

An impressive and imposing frosty Nordic landscape populated by mischievous reindeer provides the backdrop for this poetic, intimate tale of hope and heartbreak. Deadpan humor gently intertwines with the absurd in this poignant exploration of otherness, identity, and what it means to belong.

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