MOVIE OF THE MONTH: AUGUST 2016

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Eric Heisserer

Based on: ‘Story of Your Life’ by Ted Chiang

Music: Jóhann Jóhannsson

Camera: Bradford Young

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Arrival is an American science fiction drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer, based on the short story "Story of Your Life" by author Ted Chiang. The film stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. It will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2016.

When multiple mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team is put together to investigate, including linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams), mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), and US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker). Mankind teeters on the verge of global war as everyone scrambles for answers and to find them, Banks, Donnelly, and Weber will take a chance that could threaten their lives, and, quite possibly, humanity.

An adaptation of Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" had been planned since at least November 2012, involving the production company FilmNation Entertainment. With Paramount announcing that they had acquired North American rights to the film in May 2014, Jeremy Renner joined the film on March 6, 2015 to play a physics professor paired by the government with Adams' character to help communicate with the aliens. Forest Whitaker signed on to the film in April 2015, with Michael Stuhlbarg joining the cast as CIA Agent Halpern that June.

Paramount Pictures released a series of posters to promote the film, with one showing a UFO hovering above Hong Kong's iconic skyline which included Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower. The inaccuracy angered many Hong Kong social media users, as there are divisions amongst the territory's residents over its ongoing relationship with China. The posters were taken down and a statement was made which attributed the inaccuracy to a third party vendor.