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Leading independent Australian production company Aquarius Films has partnered with Irish production company Port Pictures to produce the feature film, The Good People. The film is based on the award-winning novel by Hannah Kent (the upcoming Run Rabbit Run), who adapted it for the screen.

The Good People is the second novel from bestselling author Kent and was published in 2016 by Pan Macmillan in Australia, Picador in the UK and by Little, Brown and Company in North America, both in 2017. It has been translated into 10 languages and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction, the Indie Books Award for Literary Fiction, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction

The Good People is produced by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films, and Martina Niland of Port Pictures. Angie Fielder is an Academy Award-nominated producer known for Lion, starring Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel and Rooney Mara. Polly Staniford produced Vertical Entertainment’s Berlin Syndrome starring Teresa Palmer, directed by Cate Shortland (Marvel’s Black Widow). Martina Niland produced the Academy Award-winning Once and the Golden Globe-nominated Sing Street, both by award winning writer/director John Carney. The film will be executive produced by Aquarius Films’ Miranda Culley. The film has received development funding from Screen Australia.

“What’s not to love about Hannah Kent’s brilliant novel? A dark tale about three complex women, fairies, witches and changelings. All set against the eerie backdrop of 1800’s Ireland. We can’t wait to bring this story to the screen,” commented producers Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford.

The Good People is set in 19th century Ireland, as the Catholic church wages war against pagan beliefs, three women conspire to free a young boy from evil spirits. Terrifying, thrilling and moving in equal measure, The Good People is a startling examination of absolute belief and superstition. As it explores a series of actions that are both tender and harsh, it examines our need for belonging, understanding and acceptance, and the universal need to love and be loved.

Hannah Kent’s first novel, the international bestseller, Burial Rites, was translated into over 30 languages and won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, and the Victorian Premier's People's Choice Award – it is currently being adapted for the screen by Sony TriStar. Following the success of The Good People, Kent released her third novel Devotion this year. She wrote the original screenplay for the feature film Run Rabbit Run, which will be released later this year and stars Sarah Snook (HBO’s Succession) and is directed by Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale) with major production investment from Screen Australia. Kent co-founded the Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings and is a Patron for World Vision Australia. She has written for The New York Times, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Meanjin, Qantas Magazine and LitHub.

Aquarius Films’ production and development slate includes the feature film project Paradise, based on award-winning journalist Abdul Karim Hekmat’s haunting article “True Love in Nauru” published in The Monthly; the feature film Most Admired Woman based on the acclaimed biography Sister Kenny: The Woman Who Challenged the Doctors, co-produced with Decade Films; sci-fi thriller The Subjugate based on the acclaimed novel of the same title written by award-winner Amanda Bridgeman and co-produced with Anonymous Content; a co-production with Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures for the psychological thriller series The Geography of Friendship, based on Sally Piper’s best-selling novel, for Stan and Lionsgate, and the comedy drama series Fight Like a Girl adapted from the acclaimed novel of the same title by Clementine Ford. Aquarius recently wrapped production on Savage River, a crime drama series directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Katherine Langford, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and romantic drama series Love Me starring Hugo Weaving, produced by Aquarius for Warner Bros. Australia and Foxtel’s BINGE, is now streaming in the U.S. on Hulu.

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ABOUT AQUARIUS FILMS

Aquarius Films is an award-winning production company founded by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford which has built a reputation for bold, female-led projects, diversity both on and off the screen and intelligent, progressive, and inspiring stories. Aquarius produces high-quality films and television series for global audiences that are commercially successful and critically acclaimed.

Film credits include the Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominated Lion, produced in association with See-Saw Films, and starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara; Berlin Syndrome, adapted by Shaun Grant, directed by award-winning filmmaker Cate Shortland and starring Teresa Palmer and Max Riemelt, which premiered at Sundance and Berlinale and sold to Netflix; Dirt Music, adapted from Tim Winton’s much-loved novel by Jack Thorne, directed by Gregor Jordan and starring Garrett Hedlund, Kelly Macdonald and David Wenham and Wish You Were Here, starring Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer, which premiered at Sundance and won two Australian Academy of Cinema and TV (AACTA) Awards, including Best Screenplay, and five Film Critics Circle Awards, including Best Film.

Romantic drama series Love Me starring Hugo Weaving, produced by Aquarius for Warner Bros. Australia and Foxtel’s BINGE premiered in December 2021 and is now streaming in the U.S. on Hulu. Mini-series The Unusual Suspects starring Miranda Otto and Aina Dumlao is streaming on Hulu and premiered on SBS in June 2021 and their 10 x half hour series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Born To Spy premiered in December 2021. Additional television credits include The Other Guy Seasons 1 & 2, a 6 x 30-minute comedy-drama, for Stan and Hulu starring Matt Okine, Valene Kane and Harriet Dyer and The Unlisted, a 15 x 30-minute YA sci-fi thriller for Netflix and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Aquarius recently wrapped production on Savage River, a crime drama series (6 x 1hr) directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Katherine Langford, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Aquarius Films’ production and development slate includes the feature film project Paradise, based on award-winning journalist Abdul Karim Hekmat’s haunting article “True Love in Nauru” published in The Monthly; feature film Most Admired Woman based on the acclaimed biography Sister Kenny: The Woman Who Challenged the Doctors, co-produced with Decade Films; sci-fi thriller The Subjugate based on the acclaimed novel of the same title written by award-winner Amanda Bridgeman and co-produced with Anonymous Content; a co-production with Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures for the psychological thriller series The Geography of Friendship, based on Sally Piper’s best-selling novel, for Stan and Lionsgate, and the comedy drama series Fight Like a Girl adapted from the acclaimed novel of the same title by Clementine Ford.

ABOUT PORT PICTURES

Founded by acclaimed producer Martina Niland, Port Pictures is an exciting and innovative production company based in Ireland. Martina is a well-established producer with over twenty years’ experience in the industry and has produced a vast and impressive number of critically acclaimed film & television projects.

Among Martina’s most successful productions are Academy Award winning ONCE (2007) and Golden Globe nominated SING STREET (2016), both by award-winning Writer/Director John Carney.

Some of her other producing titles include PAVEE LACKEEN (Dir: Perry Ogden), which was selected as one of only seven films to screen at the International Critics Week sidebar section of the Venice Film Festival. Both SNAP (Dir: Carmel Winters) and RUN & JUMP (Dir: Oscar nominated Steph Green), had their world premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2018 FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY (Dir: Carmel Winters), won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Martina also acted as producer and executive producer on three seasons of the BBC/RTE Rose d'Or nominated comedy series, THE YOUNG OFFENDERS (Dir: Peter Foott) for Vico Films Ltd. 

In 2019 Martina produced the Canadian/Irish film DEATH OF A LADIES’ MAN, starring Gabriel Byrne and directed by Matt Bissonnette. Celluloid Dream are acting as sales agents for the film. She is also a producer on WILD MOUNTAIN THYME by John Patrick Shanley (‘Moonstruck’, ‘Doubt’), starring Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Christopher Walken and Jon Hamm. HanWay are handling international sales with Bleecker Street releasing in the US and Lionsgate in the UK and Ireland.

In 2021 Martina acted as co-producer on episodes of Amazon Studios’ anthology series MODERN LOVE, series two. Also in 2021, Martina produced HOLDING, a 4 x 1 hour drama for ITV Studios directed by Kathy Burke and based on the Graham Norton best-selling novel.

Martina is currently producing FOUR MOTHERS, with writer/director Darren Thornton (‘A Date for Mad Mary’) and starring James McArdle (Mare of Easttown) and Fionnula Flanagan (The Others, Lost) MK2 are attached as the sales agent for the film. Filming is currently underway in Dublin.