‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ Teaser

It’s been seven years since George MIller’s last movie, Mad Max: Fury Road. Miller is one of our greatest living filmmakers, but he’s not exactly prolific; in a career spanning 40 years, he’s only directed 12 movies. So it’s an event when he brings something all the way from development to the big screen. The latest feature is Three Thousand Years of Longing, his unique take on a genie movie, starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba.

The movie is about to make its long-awaited debut at the Cannes Film Festival, so we’re finally getting our first look at it via a first teaser. It’s not long, but it shows plenty of the sort of unforgettable images that Miller’s movies are known for.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

Dr Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic - content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is scheduled to open in theaters on August 31. The full trailer for the movie premieres online this Friday ahead of the movie’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival.