Beta Cinema has boarded sales of the political thriller Keep Her Quiet, starring Holy Spider actress Zar Amir, Jonathan Pryce and Amir El-Masry, that is now in post-production.
It will introduce the film to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) next month.
Amir plays a Washington DC–based journalist whose investigation into unexplained disappearances in Western China puts her and her family in danger.
The film is inspired by the true story of investigative journalists whose reporting brought international attention to the crisis, and by numerous survivor accounts of China’s ongoing “re-education” program in Xinjiang.
The feature is directed by UK-based German filmmaker Franz Böhm and co-directed by Uyghur filmmaker Suli Kurban.
Böhm’s debut feature documentary Dear Future Children won the audience award at Hot Docs in 2021 and his short Rock, Paper, Scissors won the Bafta for best British short last year.
Kurban fled political persecution in Xinjiang with her family in 1999 and previously co-directed the 2014 documentary Run, Don’t Walk and wrote and directed 2019 short Hayat: Leben.
Amir won the best actress prize at Cannes in 2022 for her performance in Holy Spider. El-Masry, a Screen Star of Tomorrow, was most recently seen in boxer biopic Giant. Further cast includes Uyghur actress Bahargul Basco, the UK’s Hiftu Quasem, and Eleanor Matsuura.
The producer is Johannes Schubert of German-Austrian outfit Schubert, whose credits include Berlinale Competition title Rose and, previously. Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero. He is joined by Stefan Eichenberger of Switzerland’s Contrast Film, Erik Hemmendorff of Sweden’s Plattform Produktion, and Lixi Frank and David Bohun of Austria’s Panama Film. Executive producers include Malte Grunert, Anita Gou, Caroline Clark, and Kristina Börjeson.
The film is set for distribution across German-speaking territories with Pandora Film (Germany), Filmladen Filmverleih (Austria), and Filmcoopi (Switzerland).
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