Watch Cate Blanchett in The New Boy trailer

In a remote monastery in 1940s Australia, a mission for Indigenous Australian children is run by a renegade nun, Sister Eileen. A new charge is delivered in the dead of night – a boy who appears to have special powers. When the monastery takes possession of a precious relic, a large carving of Christ on the cross, the new boy encounters Jesus for the first time and is transfixed. However, the boy’s Indigenous spiritual life does not gel with the mission’s Christianity and his mysterious power becomes a threat. Sister Eileen is faced with a choice between the traditions of her faith and the truth embodied in the boy, in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival.

Introducing Aswan Reid who stars alongside Cate Blanchett (Tár, Carol), Deborah Mailman (The Sapphires, The Secret Life of Us) and Wayne Blair (Redfern Now, Mystery Road), The New Boy is written and directed by Palme d’Or winning director Warwick Thornton (Samson & Delilah, Sweet Country), with music composed by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (Blonde).

The New Boy is produced by Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton for Dirty Films, Kath Shelper for Scarlett Pictures and Lorenzo De Maio of De Maio Entertainment. The New Boy premiered at Festival de Cannes in Un Certain Regard and London Film Festival in 2023. Warwick Thornton won the coveted top prize, The Golden Frog, at the 2023 Camerimage Festival, the biggest festival devoted to the art of the cinematographer, and was nominated for a 2024 American Society of Cinematographers Award.

The New Boy is exclusively in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 15 March. Distributed by Signature Entertainment.