Golshifteh Farahani, Louis Garrel & Pierre Niney Board Atiq Rahimi’s ‘Ports Of Call’

EXCLUSIVE: Golshifteh Farahani, Louis Garrel and Pierre Niney are attached to star in Atiq Rahimi’s Ports Of Call. The project is an adaptation of Amin Maalouf’s bestselling novel about two ill-starred lovers who meet in Paris during World War II: Ossyane, the principal narrator and Muslim Ottoman prince, and Clara, a Jewish freedom fighter from Vienna. Ports Of Call is a fable of madness and family ties, of love and despair, of mixed and uncertain identities set against the backdrop of the French Resistance as well as the breakdown of order in Beirut.

Farahani (Exodus: Gods And Kings) and Rahimi previously worked together on The Patience Stone, in which the Iranian-born actress starred as the lonely wife of a comatose Taliban fighter who strikes up a forbidden love affair with a young soldier. The film did respectably for La Pacte in France and was released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics. Garrel made his directorial debut this year with Two Friends — also starring Farahani — which premiered in Cannes at Critics Week.

Rahimi has written the script with Ron Senkowski, who also produces alongside Samira Kawas through Symply Entertainment Beirut as well as Paris-based Tessalit’s Jean Brehat through his company called Tessalit. Paul-Gordon Chandler, Nisibis Arts, Michael Penniman are exec producers along with Belcim Bilgin and Zumrut Arol through Turkish media group BKM. Financing is coming out of France and the Middle East. The project is currently in preproduction, ahead of a start date in January 2016.

Related stories

Jamel Debbouze To Play 'Leo The African' In Feature Adaptation Of Amin Maalouf's Classic Novel

'Brooklyn Animal Control' Comic Gets USA Drama Pilot Order, David Goyer Producing

Diane Keaton To Star In 'The Young Pope' Series For HBO, Sky & Canal+

Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter