TrustNordisk has boarded Mystery Ride, the debut feature of writer/director Virginia Heath.

Kelly Reilly [pictured] will star alongside Sam Neill and Peter Mullan.

The film is in pre-production now.

The story follows a woman who returns to the isolated town of Tarawera, New Zealand, after her unfaithful husband dies. She wants to clear his debts but unravels a mystery of a long-disappeared woman and reconnects with a brooding Maori man.

Producers are Grant Keir from Faction North and Lene Bausager from Ugly Duckling Films. Randolph Paul is co-producer of the project, which has development support from New Zealand Film Commission and Creative Scotland.

Heath previously directed award-winning short Relativity and she is currently shooting documentary Oursels As Ithers See Us.