Cynthia Erivo is Adrift on a Greek Island in ‘Drift’ Drama Official Trailer
by Alex Billington
October 25, 2023
Source: YouTube
“Where are their parents?” “They fled.” Utopia has revealed the trailer for an indie drama titled Drift, the third feature film from acclaimed Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, following his features Ilo Ilo and Wet Season previously. This premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to some mixed and positive reviews. Jacqueline, a young refugee from Africa, lands alone and penniless on a Greek island, where she tries first to survive and then to cope with her past. While gathering her strength, she begins a friendship with a rootless tour-guide also working on the isalnd and together they find the resilience to forge ahead. “Jacqueline must face the ghosts that haunt her—or tip into full-blown madness.” The very talented Cynthia Erivo stars as Jacqueline, with Alia Shawkat, Ibrahima Ba, Honor Swinton Byrne, Zainab Jah, and Vincent Vermignon. This trailer also features the song “It Would Be” written & sung by Cynthia Erivo & Laura Mvula. A quietly powerful film about finding yourself anew when you no longer have a home.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Anthony Chen’s Drift, direct from Utopia’s YouTube:
In the aftermath of Charles Taylor’s fallen regime, a young Liberian woman named Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo) has fled from her war-torn country to a Greek island. She offers massages to tourists in exchange for one or two euros to battle her hunger, while her daily struggle for survival keeps the memories that haunt her at bay. She meets an unmoored tour guide and the two become close as they each find hope in the other. Drift is directed by acclaimed Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, director of the films Ilo Ilo and Wet Season previously, plus many other short films. The screenplay is written by Susanne Farrell and Alexander Maksik; adapted from the novel “A Marker to Measure Drift” written by Alexander Maksik. This initially premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Utopia will debut Chen’s Drift in select US theaters starting on February 9th, 2024 early next year. Look good? Who’s curious to watch?