Images : Anu Mäkiniemi-Gould
Kadri Kōusaar directs and Swedish Frida Westerdahl and Palestinian Ali Suliman stars in the feature film DESERTED. Principal photography began on October 27, 2020 in Jordan.
Following the success of her earlier film Mother /Ema (Estonian Academy of Award nominee for Best foreign film 2016) comes writer/director Kadri Kōusaar’s new feature film Deserted. Written by Kōusaar and Leana Jalukse , produced by Aet Laigu, Meteoriit and co-produced by Charlotte Most and Marie Larsson Guerpillon/MostAlice Film and Merja Ritola and Essi Haukkamaa/Greenlit Productions.
On an assignment to the abandoned, lawless and apocalyptic Sinai coast the journalist Ingrid (Frida Westerdahl, The Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre), is kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists and hidden in the desert. Soon Ingrid finds herself falling in love with the most sympathetic of the abductors, Ali (Ali Suliman, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies). Ali's boss Moussa suspects that something is going on and becomes increasingly dangerous and violent. In a dramatic sequence, Ingrid manages to escape and live, but this turns out to be an illusion.
Deserted also stars Jessica Grabowski, Finland (Shadow Lines) , Magnus Krepper, Sweden (Queen of Heart) and Ann Petrén, Sweden (The Bridge).
Rula Nasser is engaged as the Jordan local producer.
The project has received production funding from Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Cultural Endownment, Creative Europe, The Swedish Film Institute, Finnish Film Foundation.
Swedish Television, SVT, and YLE have pre-bought the film.
Film will be released in 2021.