Paris-based Paradise City Sales has released a first look of Bill Nighy and Makram Khoury in Babak Jalali’s Liverpool-set drama A Town in Nova Scotia as it gears up to launch the title in next month.
Nighy plays Irishman Leon whose daughter suggests he joins her in Canada’s picturesque Nova Scotia province after the death of his beloved wife. As he mulls her suggestion, he launches a crusade to make his aging block of flats safer in the wake of a deadly fire in a similar property in London.
On a mission alongside his neighbour and long-time closest friend, Saleh (Khoury), Leon turns their fellow residents’ quiet lives upside down.
The feature is Iranian-British director Jalali’s fifth feature after Frontier Blues (2009), Radio Dreams (2016), Land (2018) and his award-winning 2023 work Fremont (2023), which premiered in Sundance and travelled to more than 40 festivals worldwide.
“A Town in Nova Scotia is about community and camaraderie in the latter phase of life, and choosing how and with whom you want to spend that particular phase,” said Jalali.
Paradise City Sales, which rebranded from Memento International in 2025, previously handled sales on Fremont.
A Town in Nova Scotia was co-written by Jalali with Carolina Cavalli (Amanda) who collaborated with the director on Fremont.
The film’s high-profile crew features production designer Paulina Rzeszowska (Saint Maud), cinematographer Crystel Fournier (Girlhood), costume designer Jessica Schofield (Boiling Point), hair and makeup designer Caroline Rose (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) and Bafta-winning Aftersun casting director Lucy Pardee.
It is produced by Naïma Abed and Émilie Georges for Paradise City (Call Me By Your Name), and Jennifer Monks for The Fold.
The film is financed by BBC Film, BFI (awarding National Lottery funding), Liverpool Film Office (through the LCR Production Fund), Calculus, Hoopsa Films and Desmar.
Executive Producers are Kristin Irving for BBC Film, Ama Ampadu for the BFI, Christopher Moll for Liverpool Film Office, Sonny Gill and Peter O’Leary for Hoopsa Films, Naomi Despres and Michèle Marshall for Desmar, Brad Noel and Mariyah Dosani for Calculus. The film was developed with BBC Film.