‘Summerland’ Movie Clip Starring Gemma Arterton

Olivier Award-winning playwright Jessica Swale makes her directorial debut with IFC Films’ Summerland. The just-released clip from the drama features Gemma Arterton explaining what Summerland is to a young boy played by Lucas Bond.

Arterton and her Summerland co-star Gugu Mbatha Raw reunited with Swale after starring in her award-winning play, Nell Gwynn. The cast of Swale’s feature film directorial debut also includes Penelope Wilton and Tom Courtenay.

“Summerland is a pagan idea of what heaven is,” stated Swale. “It’s a notion of a place that exists alongside ours. And the idea that you can communicate between Summerland and normal life by leaving signs or messing with the edges is something that’s not specifically pagan, that’s borrowed from a notion of lots of different myths and legends. It’s more about what Summerland represents. It represents the possibility of something beyond and of something magical.”

Swale’s behind the scenes team includes director of photography Laurie Rose, production designer Christina Moore, editor Tania Reddin, and costume designer Claire Finlay-Thompson.

Summerland opens in select theaters and on VOD/Digital platforms on July 31, 2020.

Summerland
Gemma Arterton stars in ‘Summerland’ (Photo Courtesy of IFC Films)

The Plot:

Alice is a reclusive writer, resigned to a solitary life on the seaside cliffs of Southern England while World War II rages across the channel. When she opens her front door one day to find she’s to adopt a young London evacuee named Frank, she’s resistant. It’s not long, however, before the two realize they have more in common in their pasts than Alice had assumed.