Darkest Light

Wellington is intended to play itself in the film...the stuff coming up is going to be very explicitly at Wellington locations including some of the bars and restaurants, the waterfront, harbour and those sorts of things...when people watch the film they’ll be able to recognise the city as it is in real life.

– Director Floris Van Gaalen describes filming Darkest Light, The Dominion Post, 13 January 2022

It’s probably the thing that I am most proud of that I have ever done. I don’t have any regrets. It’s kind of better than it has any right to be, in my opinion. That’s just credit to all the people who helped me get it to the finish line.

– Writer/director Floris Van Gaalen on Darkest Light, Stuff, 6 February 2023

I want this resolved as soon as possible David.

– Superintendent Dean Porter (Nathanial Lees), to Detective David King (Mark Hadlow)

Why are you talking to me like a three-year-old?

– Elizabeth (Carmel McGlone) challenges her husband David (Mark Hadlow), at the start of Darkest Light

[an] atmospheric and assured debut feature . . . It features an impressive ensemble of local acting talent and makes great use of both Jonny Dyas’ evocative piano and strings-dominated score and cinematographer Andrew Garfield’s effective capturing of the Capital’s sometimes stark cityscapes and moody climate. . . . Producer, director, writer and editor [Floris] Van Gaalen does an effective job of presenting a range of potential suspects and solutions to this murder mystery,

– Stuff reviewer James Croot, 22 November 2023