14/11/2013 - UK director Virginia Heath will return to her native New Zealand next year to shoot a thriller starring Kelly Reilly as a widow who wants to clear the table after he husband’s death

Currently finishing her documentary Oursels As Ithers See Us (as Scottish poet Robert Burns put it), UK director Virginia Heath (photo) will return to her native New Zealand to shoot her feature debut, Mystery Ride, from her own original screenplay. Denmark’s TrustNordisk will handle international sales.

UK actress Kelly Reilly – most recently in Flight (2012), opposite Denzel Washington – will star with New Zealand actor Sam Neill and Scottish actor Peter Mullan in the thriller, which will be produced by Grant Keir, of New Zealand’s Faction North, and Lene Bausager, of the UK’s Ugly Duckling Films.

Reilly plays the lead as Kate Connelly, who goes back to the isolated town of Tarawera in rural New Zealand after the unexpected death of her unfaithful husband – she wants to sell the family farm to clear his debts and leave as soon as possible. But when she meets an old Maori flame, Ray, she realises it might not be that simple.

Credited for several shorts and documentaries, Heath was nominated for a European Film Award for Relativity (2002), which won the Prix UIP for Best European Short at the Berlin International Film Festival. Supported by the New Zealand Film Commission and Creative Scotland, Mystery Ride will go into production next spring.

In another move, TrustNordisk has closed a raft of deals for Norwegian director Mikkel Sandemose’s action-adventure Ragnarok [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was launched at the Fantastic Fest in Austin: China (Melting Culture), Indonesia (Pratama Film), Spain (Artwood), Brazil (Mares Filmes) and Thailand (IPA) have been added to the US, Turkey-Cyprus, Japan, Taiwan and Eastern Europe.