Brian De Palma is set to direct the first film from Aurora Alliance Films, a joint venture between Arclight Films and Chinese distributor Huace Media Group.
Action thriller Lights Out will follow a blind Chinese girl who gets caught unknowingly in a plot to expose a top-secret assassination program.
The girl, Lin Shen, raises unsettling questions about government secrecy and what can and can’t be seen.
The director of Scarface, The Untouchables and Carlito’s Way, Palma’s last screen credits according to IMDB.com were Passion (2012), Redacted (2007) and The Black Dahlia (2006).
He was awarded the Jaeger-LeCoultre glory to the filmmaker award at this year’s Venice Film Festival where Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s documentary De Palma, which chronicled his four decades career, premiered.
Casting is underway for Lights Out, with a high-profile Chinese actress in the frame to play the lead.
Ying Ye, managing director of Aurora Alliance Films, said: “De Palma is a proven master of suspense; in the hands of the legendary director, Lights Out promises to be a thriller for the ages, full of empowering messages, harrowing plot turns and great action sequences.”
The producers are Jon Chieuw of Huace Media Group, Ying Ye, Gary Hamilton, Mike Gabrawy and Elliot Tong with Toronto-based Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdl of The Film Farm.
Arclight Films is handling international sales.