The news has been broken that music and film stars Donald Glover and Rihanna will co-star in a mysterious new film titled “Guava Island.” Glover made the decision to premiere a trailer of the cinematic project at his second PHAROS festival. The music festival, described as “a three-day virtual reality experience” by Billboard, occurred over the weekend of Nov. 23 to nov. 25 at T papakanga Regional Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
During Glover’s performance, a screening of the film’s trailer was played for the festival attendees.
The 35-year-old rapper, whose stage name is Childish Gambino, told Vanity Fair earlier this year, “Pharos is meant to be a communal space—a place that evolves and reacts to the culture. We aren’t tied to a format and that lets us adapt in a way that others can’t. We’re selling real intimacy. We protect the experience and it becomes something you genuinely share with the people around you and you take away something special. We’re looking at expanding the world in 2018—there will be more artists involved.”
The festival-goers were the first to witness the screening as a once in a lifetime opportunity, and the trailer quickly went viral as smartphones captured “Guava Island” for the rest of the world to see.
The Independent wrote, “Although there has been no official release online, smartphone footage of its screening has ended up on the internet—either a sacrilegious way for it to first be experienced by the masses, or a smart way to build hype. Believed to have been shot in Cuba, the trailer for the film—reportedly titled ‘Guava Island’—sees Glover’s character lament: ‘We live in paradise but none of us actually have the time or the means to live here.’”
Rihanna and Glover’s characters in the film are a couple who live in a beach paradise but are overcome with poverty and the risks of being kidnapped and robbed, making the film appear to be a romantic, action-packed drama.
Without an official release date, there is very little information about where the film can be seen and no opportunities to pre-order tickets. But, the ending trailer credits did reveal that Letitia Wright and Nonso Anozie will co-star in the film with Hiro Murai.