Guy Nattiv‘s “Harmonia” has cast Naomi Watts, Vicky Krieps, Bella Ramsey and Odessa Young as Embankment Films, Range Media Partners and CAA Media Finance launch pre-sales ahead of Cannes.
Inspired by a real-life events, the film is based on Nattiv’s grandmother and her involvement in an insidious cult.
The synopsis reads: “Set in the 1980s, Rita (Watts) is entranced by the mesmeric leader (Krieps) and renounces her family to embrace the world of the enigmatic Harmonia commune. Her daughters, Ella (Ramsey), and Jo (Young), put everything on the line to infiltrate the cult and bring their mother back home. Yet, once immersed in the commune, they find themselves inexorably drawn into the leader’s labyrinthine web of psycho-spiritual manipulation.”
Producers for the film are Julia Lebedev and Eddie Vaisman for Sight Unseen, Jaime Ray Newman for New Native Pictures, and Oren Moverman. The film is co-written by Noa Berman-Herzberg.
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In a statement, Nattiv said, “I have been waiting decades until I was emotionally ready to confront my beloved grandmother’s story, which has haunted my family since I was a child. As a woman in the 1980s going through a midlife crisis, my grandmother made the radical choice to leave my family and embed herself in an all-female cult, in an obsessive pursuit of happiness and meaning.”
The filmmaker continued, “The core of this movie is today’s very real, beguiling, and profligate threat of coercion and manipulation by any cult of dominant personality. I am honored to collaborate on my most personal film with the brilliant Naomi, Vicky, Bella and Odessa, who will bring their extraordinary talents to the terrifying and unique world of ‘Harmonia.'”
Embankment’s Hugo Grumbar said, “Harmonia is captivating, unsettling, timely and deeply honest. It wrestles intricate family dynamics with the alluring power of cult, interrogating how far we will go to protect those we most cherish whilst facing the pulse of temptation. Prepare yourself for a chilling ascent into real psychological fear”.
Production for “Harmonia” is scheduled to shoot during later this fall.
