Roman Polanski’s ‘An Officer and a Spy’ to Open in US Cinemas, ’40 Acres’ to Open in Uk Cinemas

Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy sets US theatrical release date

Roman Polanski’s historical thriller An Officer and a Spy starring Jean Dujardin, will makes it US theatrical premiere on Friday, August 8 at Film Forum in New York City.

Starring in the film are Jean Dujardin (Picquart), Louis Garrel (Alfred Dreyfus), Emmanuelle Seigner (Pauline Monnier), and Grégory Gadebois (Henry).

Paris, 1895: Jewish Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel) is ceremoniously stripped of his status and sentenced to life on a penal colony for passing secrets to Germany. Officer George Picquart (Jean Dujardin), appointed head of military counter-intelligence, discovers that the Germans continue to receive secrets, and that a mole is still at large.

Polanski and Harris (Conclave) – who also collaborated on The Ghost Writer – forge a historical thriller from deeply researched details of the Dreyfus Affair, a scandal that divided French society for 12 years, elicited Émile Zola’s famed “J’accuse…!” open letter, and remains a monumental case of institutional injustice and antisemitism.

More than a century after Dreyfus’ conviction, the case continues to reverberate in France. On June 3, 2025, Roger Cohen reported in The New York Times: “The French National Assembly, or lower house of Parliament, took a big step in that direction [of reparations] on Monday when it voted unanimously to promote Dreyfus, who was publicly stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment, to the rank of brigadier general. It was an apparent acknowledgment that, after more than 130 years and at a time of repeated desecrations of Jewish sites in France, the Republic’s atonement had been incomplete.”

An Officer and a Spy had its world premiere at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize. It received twelve nominations for the 45th César Awards and won the awards for Best Adaptation, Best Costume Design, and Best Director.

40 Acres starring Danielle Deadwyler to open in Uk cinemas

Following its opening in US cinemas over the weekend, the post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres starring Danielle Deadwyler (Till, I Saw The TV Glow, Carry-On), Kataem O’Connor (Murdoch Mysteries, Time Cut, Heartland), and Michael Greyeyes (The King Tide, 1923, Wild Indian) will open in UK and Irish cinemas from 1st August via Vertigo Releasing.

Directed by R.T. Thorne (Blindspot, The Porter), the film world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Also starring in the movie are Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson, and Jaeda LeBlanc.

In the film, Hailey Freeman, played by Deadwyler, and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in 1875 in rural Canada after the first Civil War. In a famine-decimated future they struggle to make their last stand against those intent on taking their home.

Watch the trailer for 40 Acres.