After being shrouded in secrecy, Guava Island is almost here!
The film, starring Donald Glover, Rihanna and Letitia Wright, is due on Amazon Prime this Saturday. It will be free from 12:01 a.m. to 6 p.m., after which it will be available for Prime members. It is a New Regency and Amazon Studios partnership, directed by frequent Glover collaborator, Hiro Murai and written by his brother, Stephen Glover.
Here’s the official description of the film, which Amazon calls a “tropical thriller”: On Guava Island, a local musician is determined to throw a festival for everyone to enjoy.
A short teaser has also been released, which you can view below:
You’re all invited to our staycation with @donaldglover and @rihanna. The new #ChildishGambino film #GuavaIsland will be available on Prime Video starting Saturday 4/13 at 12:01am PST. pic.twitter.com/rxXecJEfzp
— Amazon Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) April 11, 2019
The film debuts this Thursday at Coachella. A exclusive report at Vanity Fair details the makings of the project, a “music-driven hour-long film shot largely in secret in Havana” that is “inspired by Fernando Meirelles’s Brazilian crime drama City of God and Prince’s Purple Rain.” New Regency took a meeting with Glover in February 2018 when he first had the idea and they immediately said yes. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke “decided to plunk down a hefty chunk of the e-tailer’s change to distribute the film based on her watching a four-and-a-half minute sizzle reel via a one-time viewing link that expired 30 minutes after she received it.”
It will also be on the Coachella livestream this Saturday. As the Vanity Fair report states, “..the team was drawn to New Regency as its producing and financing partner and to Amazon as its distribution partner, specifically the online retailer’s willingness to release the mini-movie in front of its paywall and via the Coachella livestream.”
Bring on Guava Island!