A first-look at Bill Nighy’s new film A Town in Nova Scotia has been released, as the project takes a big step towards release with an exciting update.
The film follows Nighy as Leon, a newly-widowed man who lives alone and has a daughter, Anna, who lives all in the way in Canada.
She asks him to come join her in Nova Scotia, but after hearing about a tower fire in London, he instead decides to start a campaign to make his ageing building safer, alongside his friend Saleh, a fellow resident who similarly lives alone in the building.
Paradise City Sales
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Described as “a warm story of friendship, stubbornness and small acts of defiance”, the film is currently in post-production and has sales agent Paradise City taking it to the Cannes Film Festival (running 12-23 May) to find a distributor.
The first-released image shows Nighy’s Leon and Makram J Khoury’s Saleh on a merry-go-round, with Nighy having a wry smile on his face.
“A Town in Nova Scotia is a deeply human and quietly funny story of friendship, shaped by a rare and universal emotional intelligence that will carry audiences from laughter to tears,” Paradise City said in a statement.
“Anchored by standout, awards-worthy performances from Bill Nighy and Makram J Khoury, the film combines strong audience appeal with clear festival potential, rooted in Babak Jalali’s singular cinematic voice and subtle humour.”
Gareth Cattermole//Getty Images
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Director Jalali added: “A Town in Nova Scotia is about community and camaraderie in the latter phase of life, and choosing how and with whom you want to spend that particular phase.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Paradise City Sales again after the wonderful experience I had with the whole team there on my previous film Fremont. I couldn’t wish for a more thoughtful, ambitious, dedicated and kind set of people to take this film out into this big, strange world.”
The plot of the film doesn’t seem too dissimilar to 2022’s Living, which follows Nighy as a man who tries to make a positive difference in his local community after receiving some bad news.
The film earned Nighy a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars, and is currently available to stream free on Channel 4, but not for long.
A Town in Nova Scotia does not currently have a release date.
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