Teaser Trailer for Director Sam Mendes' EMPIRE OF LIGHT About the Magic of Cinema and Human Connection

Searchlight Pictures has released a teaser trailer for the upcoming Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Skyfall, 1917) film Empire of Light. The film is set in an English seaside town in the early 1980s, and it tells a powerful and poignant story about human connection and the magic of cinema.

The film has a wonderfully talented cast that includes Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, and Crystal Clarke. The music for the film was also created by by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. This looks like a beautifully made love letter to the magic of movies and how they inspire us.

Here’s the synopsis:

The Empire is the kind of movie house you don’t see too often anymore, framed by bright lights and a beautiful marquee, graciously inviting all into its red-velvet seats. Hilary (Olivia Colman) serves at the front of house, opening the theatre every morning and overseeing a brimming concession stand. Meanwhile, her manager (Colin Firth) calls her into his office from time to time for illicit favours. It’s a gloomy routine that Hilary grudgingly repeats, but all her co-workers recognize that she’s been a lot quieter since returning to the job after a long absence. When Stephen (Micheal Ward) arrives as an eager new employee, the two form a quick, if outwardly unlikely, connection. Hilary hides a troubled past, struggling to manage her mental health, while Stephen, a young Black man, grapples with the racism rampant in 1980s Britain. Both wounded by aggressions outside their control, they find an escape and safe harbour in one another — but their relationship, like the Empire cinema itself, cannot last forever, and soon the pair must face the reality of their differing futures.

Empire of Light will be premiering at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival this fall. Searchlight Pictures will then debut the film in select US theaters on December 9th, 2022.