After dabbling in TV over the last six years, Lena Dunham has decided to make the jump back into film work, with the help of Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams.
Variety is reporting that Dunham has signed on to write a new film for Amblin and Bad Robot that will tell the story of a Syrian refugee that is stranded at sea. The film tells the true story of Doaa Al Zamel, a mother of two that is fleeing Egypt for Sweden. However, while on traveling via the water, Al Zamel’s boat is shipwrecked. She survived for days in an inflatable water ring, holding both her children in her arms.
The film is an adaptation of the book “A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival” from author Melissa Fleming. The author is the chief spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
As mentioned, this film marks Dunham’s first work writing a feature film since 2012’s “Nobody Walks.” Of course, Dunham hit it big as writer-director with her feature film “Tiny Furniture.” However, since then, she’s been mostly focused on her TV work, spearheading the massively popular “Girls” and her latest series “Camping,” both for HBO. Of course, she’s also been acting more, recently landing a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Recently, Dunham has been making changes in her career, as she split with her long-time producing partner Jenni Konner and began developing her own projects. She also has been dealing with illness and recently said that she’s overcoming some addiction issues.
There’s no word yet on when we can expect her latest feature film, but we’ll definitely keep an eye out as the film continues development.