The latest film by Wim Wenders, Submergence, will open the 65th edition of the San Sebastian Festival on September 22. This will be the European premiere of the co-production between Germany, France, Spain and the USA, after its screening in Toronto. The cast of the film, which will compete for the Golden Shell, is headed by James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander.
The story, shot in Berlin, Madrid, Toledo, different locations in France and Djibouti, was penned by Erin Dignam (The Yellow Handkerchief, The Last Face) based on the famous novel of the same name by The Economist correspondent J.M. Ledgard (Giraffe). James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander embody a hydraulic engineer and a bio-mathematician who meet in a hotel on the French coast, where both are preparing their missions. While she works on a project of immersion in the Greenland Sea, he is taken hostage in Somalia.
The soundtrack is written by Fernando Velázquez (A Monster Calls, The Impossible), once again featuring the Basque National Symphony Orchestra. Wenders himself came to San Sebastian in March to attend the recording.
Submergence is a German, French and Spanish production. An Atresmedia Cine’s presentation produced by Lila 9th (USA) in coproduction with Neue Road Movies, BacKup Media Studios, Morena Films, Submergence A.I.E and UMedia, with the collaboration of Atresmedia and Movistar+’s participation. It will be internationally distributed by Embankment Films and in Spain by Entertainment One Films Spain (eOne Films Spain).
Submergence is a love story that takes us into the extremely different worlds of our two protagonists, Danielle Flinders (Alicia Vikander) and James More (James McAvoy). They meet by chance in a remote hotel in Normandy where they both prepare for a dangerous mission. They fall in love almost against their will, but soon recognize in each other the love of their lives. When they have to separate, we find out that James works for the British Secret Service. He’s involved in a mission in Somalia to track down a source for suicide bombers infiltrating Europe. Danielle ‘Danny’ Flinders is a bio-mathematician working on a deep sea diving project to support her theory about the origin of life on our planet. Soon, they are worlds apart. James is taken hostage by Jihadist fighters and has no way of contacting Danny, and she has to go down to the bottom of the ocean in her submersible, not even knowing if James is still alive…