30/04/2025 - The celebrated British filmmaker’s new comedy-drama will launch sales at Cannes through Bankside Films and will begin shooting on location in England this September

Actresses Pamela Anderson (left, © Dario Caruso) and Dakota Fanning (© Crislapi3)

Pamela Anderson’s acclaim for her comeback role in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl has led to a bevy of exciting new projects, the latest among them being the next film by UK auteur Sally Potter. The actress and former model leads the strongly female-centred cast of Alma alongside Dakota Fanning and Lindsay Duncan, with further support coming from Arinzé Kene, Esther McGregor, Esmé Creed-Miles and Earl Cave (the latter three – coincidentally or not – all having famous industry parents). With the story promising another down-to-earth film for Potter following her more avant-garde origins, principal photography will get under way on location this September in England. The announcement comes in tandem with the film’s launch at Cannes’ Marché du Film, with co-producers from France and Germany on board in addition to the UK, and Bankside Films handling international sales

Mooted for some time as her follow-up to the Berlinale 2020 premiere The Roads Not Taken [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the premise centres on an extended family who meet to scatter the ashes of their mother, only to find that her continued haunting presence explosively, and often comically, unravels the secrets of their lives. None of the cast’s roles have been announced yet, including that of the film’s title figure.

“Looking for the alchemical mix of great screen presences to bring a script into vivid life can feel like a treasure hunt,” Potter explained further. “Three of the cinematic jewels now set to be at the centre of the cast of Alma are Pamela Anderson, Dakota Fanning and Lindsay Duncan, three brilliant actors I have wanted to work with for some time. Their remarkable individual qualities will combine with, amongst others, Arinzé Kene and three exciting young actors: Esther McGregor, Esmé Creed-Miles and Earl Cave.”

Alma is being produced by her longtime collaborator Christopher Sheppard for Adventure Pictures and Rebecca O’Brien, of Sixteen Films. France’s Les Films d’Antoine and Germany’s prolific Komplizen co-produce, whilst Bankside Films managing director Stephen Kelliher executive-produces.

“It’s an honour to work with Sally on this brilliantly clever, funny and poignant story of a family in conflict at the most sensitive of times,” Kelliher went on to say. “Sally’s script is endlessly entertaining, and the cast she has drawn to the project speaks for itself.”

A brilliantly playful and inventive filmmaker, Potter is part of the original “BFI Production Board” generation of British directors, also including Terence Davies and Derek Jarman, who enlivened the country’s cinema in the Thatcher era. Her most acclaimed earlier films include the Tilda Swinton-starring Orlando, the dance-based The Tango Lesson and Yes [+see also:
trailer
film profile], whose dialogue is fully in the iambic pentameter verse form. No less rewardingly, she more recently moved to the black-comic chamber farce The Party [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Sally Potter
film profile] and the autobiographical tale The Roads Not Taken.