Zar Amir, Jonathan Pryce, and Amir El-Masry to Star in Keep Her Quiet
Zar Amir, the Iranian-French actress who earned the Cannes Best Actress prize for Holy Spider, headlines the investigative thriller Keep Her Quiet. She is joined by British star Jonathan Pryce, an Oscar nominee known for The Two Popes, and rising Egyptian-British performer Amir El-Masry, known for Limbo and Giant.
Rounding out the cast are Uyghur actress Bahargul Basco, the United Kingdom’s Hiftu Quasem, and Canada’s Eleanor Matsuura.
Franz Böhm directs, following his BAFTA-winning short Rock, Paper, Scissors, with Uyghur filmmaker Suli Kurban co-directing. The screenplay is crafted by Samuel Gheist, Kurban, and Böhm.
Rooted in a true story, the film traces a Washington, D.C.–based journalist whose probe into a string of mysterious disappearances in Western China escalates into personal peril for her and her family.
Production recently wrapped, filming across Germany’s Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria as well as Washington, D.C.
Keep Her Quiet is produced by Schubert, the German-Austrian outfit led by Johannes Schubert. Key production partners include Switzerland’s Stefan Eichenberger (Contrast Film), Sweden’s Erik Hemmendorff (Plattform Produktion), and Austria’s David Bohun and Lixi Frank (Panama Film).
Executive producers include Malte Grunert, producer of All Quiet on the Western Front; Anita Gou (The Farewell); Caroline Clark of Kindred Spirit; and Kristina Börjeson of Film i Väst.
For German-speaking release, Pandora Film (Germany), Filmladen Filmverleih (Austria), and Filmcoopi Zürich (Switzerland) will handle distribution.
The project is a collaboration with a public broadcaster alliance led by Germany’s SWR, with participants BR and ARTE, along with Austria’s ORF and Switzerland’s SRF. Financial support comes from MFG Film Fund Baden-Württemberg, FilmFernsehFonds Bavaria, Bayerischer Bankenfonds, Hessen Film & Medien, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), the Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Fund, the Federal Office of Culture (BAK), and the Zurich Film Fund. If you found this premise intriguing, what angles or questions would you want the film to explore further in its portrayal of investigative journalism and personal risk?
