The Sunlit Night follows an aspiring painter (Jenny Slate) from New York City to the farthest reaches of Arctic Norway for an assignment she hopes will invigorate her work and expand her horizons. In a remote village, among the locals, she meets a fellow New Yorker (Alex Sharp), who has come in search of a proper Viking funeral only to find that the Chief (Zach Galifianakis) is but a re-enactor from Cincinnati. The eclectic crew ranges from “home” to “lost,” within the extreme and dazzling landscape of the Far North. Under a sun that never quite sets, and the high standards of an unforgiving mentor, Frances must navigate between ambition, desire, obligation, and risk in order to find a way forward.
Originally scheduled for theatrical release during the spring of 2020, due to Wuhan coronavirus and all movie theaters in the world being closed, the film bypassed movie theaters and debuted on Video On Demand July 17, 2020.