Carrie Coon leads 1980s commune drama The Liberation
Carrie Coon plays a depressed New Jersey bank worker and Holocaust survivor who is pulled toward an all-female woodland commune in The Liberation.
Writer-director Guy Nattiv and Coon discussed making the film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: London 2026, according to Deadline. Lily James co-stars as the charismatic leader of that commune. The conversation centred on how an intimate personal story became a period drama.
The film is set in the early 1980s. Nattiv said it was inspired by real events from his grandmother’s life, as reported by Deadline. That family link shaped Rita, Coon’s character, a woman living a quiet working life while carrying an unspoken history.
Nattiv wrote the script with Noa Berman-Herzberg. The project is listed as a 2026 film from the USA, with Bella Ramsey appearing alongside Coon and James, according to the BFI’s London Film Festival pages. Small team. Personal material.
Bleecker Street is handling the US theatre release in January, Deadline reported. January is a familiar corridor for specialised titles looking for room after the year-end rush. No box-office figures have been disclosed.
The London discussion was part of an organised showcase for awards-season titles. The 2026 line-up included Nattiv joined by Coon to talk about The Liberation, according to Deadline. The panel was moderated by Andreas Wiseman.
What makes this stand out for general audiences is the set-up. A bank counter in New Jersey. A commune in the woods. A woman caught between them. Viewers do not need to know the production history to realise the pull of that contrast.
