Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea IFF) hosted a Special Presentation of The Absence of Eden tonight at its 3rd edition, with lead actor Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy), director Marco Perego, Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and Furious), Garret Hedlund (Inside Llewyn Davis), and Naomi Campbell in attendance. The screening took place at the Ritz-Carlton in Jeddah.

Producer

Robert Kravis, Karl Herrmann, Julie Yorn, Marco Perego

Cast

Zoe Yadira Saldana Perego, Adria Arjona, Garrett Hedlund, Tom Waits, Chris Coy, Sarah Minnich

Scriptwriter

Rick Rapoza, Marco Perego

The borderland between the United States and Mexico – a hellish landscape inhabited by coyotes, armed officers, desperate immigrants and refugees – is the setting for this tough story a Mexican woman on the run from a cartel and looking for a better life in the north. Avatar star Zoe Saldana, whose own family migrated to the US from the Dominican Republic, takes a leap from action franchises to play this undocumented Mexican immigrant who finds herself working with a morally conflicted ICE agent (Garrett Hedlund) to try to save the life of a young girl. Based on two years of research, the film goes behind the headlines to show how easily vulnerable migrant groups such as young children are abused and exploited.