Polish actress and singer Joanna Kulig (“Cold War,” “The Eddy”) and French icon Fanny Ardant are co-starring in “Island,” a psychological thriller by Italian-German writer director Nora Jaenike filmed on the Italian island of Elba.
Filming on the mostly English-language atmospheric noir wrapped on Nov. 4 on the island, which is located off the coast of Tuscany. Kulig, who won a best actress European Film Award for her performance in Pawel Pawilkowski’s Oscar-nominated “Cold War,” plays Joanna, a woman in her 40s married to a rich and controlling bedridden man. Through an encounter with Ada (Ardant) Joanna begins “a process of emancipation that will push her to do things that she had never thought of,” according to a provided synopsis. See a first-look image from the film above.
Italian actor Marco Rossetti, who stars in hit local medical drama “Doc — Nelle tue mani,” is among the feminist thriller’s other key cast members. The production designer is Elba native Paolo Ferruzzi.
“Island” is the first feature written and directed by Jaenike, who was raised in Italy by German parents and previously made a slew of prizewinning shorts. She is also founder and artistic director of the Elba Film Festival and runs the Nostos screenplay development workshop in Tuscany.
The film is being shepherded by independent Indian producer Manish Mundra’s Drishyam Films and co-produced by Ariens Damsi for Rome-based Eliofilm and by Jaenicke’s own Nostos Films shingle.
Mundra was among Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch in 2017.
Exec producers on “Island” are Sreemoyee Bhattacharya for Drishyam International and Luigi Mascolo for Eliofilm.
