News of a new Jeremy Piven sighting is always cause for celebration, so with a spring in our step on this chilly late November morning we bring you Waska: an indie drama on the way from On a Clear Day director Gaby Dellal.
The Waska of the title is the first snowfall of the year, "magical but often treacherous", and the story revolves around the disappearance of a toddler in the snowstorm, and a small community's search for him. The novel by Leslie Schwartz on which the film is based (adapted by Catherine Trieschmann, with the title changed from the eighties-soap-opera-sounding Angel's Crest) is as much about detailed portraits of the townsfolk as it is about the disappearance, so expect toothsome supporting roles for a cast that also includes Mira Sorvino, Thomas Dekker, Lynn Collins, Elizabeth McGovern, Joseph Morgan and Kate Walsh.
Immediate wintry comparisons that leap to mind are with Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and Mark Evans' Snow Cake. High standards to live up to then, but it sounds like there's every chance Waska will make the grade. Filming just started in Calgary, so we shouldn't have to wait too long to find out.