Watch Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga in the trailer for Rebecca Hall’s Passing

Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson appear in Passing by Rebecca Hall, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Edu Grau.

Adapted from the celebrated 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen, PASSING tells the story of two Black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga), who can “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the color line during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in late 1920s New York. After a chance encounter reunites the former childhood friends one summer afternoon, Irene reluctantly allows Clare into her home, where she ingratiates herself to Irene’s husband (Andre Holland) and family, and soon her larger social circle as well. As their lives become more deeply intertwined, Irene finds her once-steady existence upended by Clare, and PASSING becomes a riveting examination of obsession, repression, and the lies people tell themselves and others to protect their carefully constructed realities.

Hillary saw the film at this year’s Sundance festival and said it was “shot with intense beauty and sophistication.” You can read her full review here.

Filmed in black and white by cinematographer Eduard Grau (A Single Man), Passing is the directorial debut of British actress Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong, The Night House) who also wrote the adapted screenplay. Hall co-produced the film alongside Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi.

The film stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, Andre Holland, Alexander Skarsgard, Bill Camp, Ashley Ware Jenkins, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, and Gbenga Akinnagbe.

Passing opens in select US cinemas on 27th October 2021 and then hits Netflix on 10th November 2021.