First Image Released for Hiam Abbass in London Thriller Daughter of Eden

Sales company Lucky Number has released a first image of Hiam Abbass in Daughter of Eden, a London-set psychological thriller, ahead of the American Film Market. Deadline reported the reveal as an exclusive on 3 November 2026.

In the film, Abbass plays a woman suspected of connections with Saddam Hussein's regime. Yasmin Al-Khudhairi plays a British Iraqi nurse who begins to suspect that one of her patients is linked to what happened to her parents under Saddam's rule in Iraq. Amir El-Masry and Lindsay Duncan also star.

The film is the debut feature of Iranian British director Fateme Ahmadi, who also wrote it. Screen Daily named Ahmadi one of its Stars of Tomorrow in 2026, and describes the film as an English and Arabic-language psychological thriller.

Lucky Number is preparing a sales launch for the film at the American Film Market, the deal-making event where sales companies show footage to buyers who decide which films they will license in their own countries. The company will screen a first promo reel there. A sales launch is the point at which a film is offered to those buyers.

The film is produced by Jack Tarling of Shudder Films and Pietro Greppi of Lunapark Pictures, in co-production with Jackie Larkin of Newgrange Pictures. Its funding comes from the BFI, which uses National Lottery money, and from BBC Film, with support from Screen Ireland, Civic Studios and Three Point Capital. The BFI and BBC Film developed the project before production began.

Screen Daily reported in July 2026 that the film was shot in Dublin. In May 2026, it was picked for the UK's Cannes Great 8 showcase, a selection of British films presented at the Cannes Film Festival, and at that point it was in post-production, the stage where editing, sound and visual effects are finished.

Lucky Number was launched in 2024 by Olivier Barbier, Ola Byszuk and Lenny Porte, who previously worked as an executive at Orange Studio. The company describes its aim as promoting auteur cinema, meaning films where the director's personal vision leads the project. It also boarded Annemarie Jacir's Palestine 36 with MK2 in early 2025, with Jeremy Irons, Hiam Abbass and Saleh Bakri in the cast.

Lucky Number's sales team will take Daughter of Eden to buyers in the coming weeks, so the first promo reel is the next public look at the film.