Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale details the horrors of 1800s colonial Australia through exploring themes such as racism, misogyny, and sexual violence. Clare, a young Irish woman played by Aisling Franciosi, seeks to avenge her family after a British officer (Sam Claflin) and his friends kill her husband and child. She joins a man named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) to help her travel through the wilderness and carry out her goal to find justice for her family. While both of them have experienced trauma and are on their own separate paths, they are forced to find a way to work together and help one another.

Throughout the trailer, viewers can hear the soft, eery voice of the protagonist singing the plain notes to a ballad. This explains the songbird name the title of the film takes after. The project was filmed in Tasmania in 2017, which is where the story takes place.

The film won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Kent also won the same award for her film The Babadook in 2018. Ganambarr also won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at the festival.The film will be distributed by IFC Films on August 2nd. Watch the trailer below.

This news was reported by Deadline.