Australian actor Mojean Aria has signed on for the indie drama Thief of Sleep.
According to Variety, “Beasts of No Nations” executive producer Tommee May’s Come What May Productions and “Jojo Rabbit’s” Chelsea Winstanely, who’s also produced for her husband Thor: Ragnorak director Taika Waititi, are producing the film about a closeted gay teen escaping persecution in Iran.
More specifically, the film will follow the young man on a journey as he tries to flee to his distant family in Scotland. Once there, he will struggle with culture shock and other scenarios like falling in love and problems with seeking asylum.
“Exile, immigration, asylum and sexuality make ‘Thief of Sleep’ an extremely current movie,” Winstanley and May said. “We are fortunate to have Mojean play one of the lead characters, at such a breakthrough moment of his career. The public is about to discover his tremendous talent on many platforms.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpa-p5RgiMm/
Related: UK Asylum Seeker Rejected Because He Wasn’t Effeminate Enough?
But who is lead star Mojean Aria? The Australian talent has already been seen in LGBTQ media before. He worked with director Darwin Serink, who will be helming Thief of Sleep alongside playwright Stuart Thomas, on the short film Aban + Khorshid. That project garnered praise to the point of receiving the LGBTQ Emerging Filmmaker Showcase during the Cannes Film Festival.
But moving on to their latest project, Thief of Sleep is in pre-production and no estimated release date has been announced yet. But keep your eyes on this one, folks.
Sources: Variety
