Zoe Saldaña Crosses the Border in Trailer for The Absence of Eden

A young girl’s future is at stake in executive producer Martin Scorsese and director Marco Perego’s The Absence of Eden. Zoe Saldaña — Perego’s real-life wife — portrays an undocumented immigrant named Esmee who must work with an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent played by Garrett Hedlund to save the aforementioned child. Check out the trailer (above) for the latest big-screen offering from Roadside Attractions, which also features actress Adria Arjona. The Absence of Eden synopsis reads as follows:

“The Absence of Eden takes place at the border between the United States and Mexico – a hellish landscape inhabited by coyotes, armed officers, desperate immigrants, and refugees. When Esmee (Saldaña), a young woman working as a private dancer in Mexico, is forced to commit a violent act of self-defense that results in the death of a cartel member, she flees her homeland for sanctuary in the United States.

Guided by a ruthless Coyote and a group of undocumented immigrants, she befriends a young mother and her daughter along the way. Before crossing the border, the mother is taken from the group, and Esmee promises to protect her daughter and help them reunite again in America, touching off an interlocking story about people struggling to survive on America’s border with Mexico.”

Marco Perego Explores The Absence of Eden

The Absence of Eden marks the directorial debut of filmmaker Marco Perego. In addition to helming the film, Perego serves as a producer, and he co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Rapoza. Star Zoe Saldaña is coming off the spy series Special Ops: Lioness, her appearance in Good Burger 2 and last summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, while co-star Garrett Hedlund last showed up on Lawman: Bass Reeves and collaborated with Mel Gibson in Desperation.

Now, it might have been Perego’s first time sitting in the director’s chair. Nevertheless, he had lofty ambitions, particularly where the cinematic imagery of The Absence of Eden was concerned, and how the filmmaker utilized his lead actors. Perego said in his director’s statement, courtesy of Roadside Attractions:

“What if Adam and Eve left Eden and God was not there? We tried to put this idea into different elements of the film. For example, the chicken lost in the house devastated by the ICE Agent represents a young Adam. The garden burning in the fire (Eden). The young Eve being dragged away from her home. The coyote represents the devil. He slowly eats the chicken (Adam) who couldn’t survive in this world. The camera is used like a hunting coyote – always moving through the film until he comes out of the truck.”

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Perego said later in the same statement:

“It is not about immigration. It is about humanity. It is about women and children being lost in this dilemma between man and God. God must be a man because only a man can be absent and violent at the same time. Poetry can give a voice to the unheard. That was my goal with this film. The goal is to talk about humanity to change something inside us like an art piece, try to change one grain at a time.”

In addition to the iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese serving as an executive producer, Zoe Saldaña’s Cinestar Pictures, Ingenious Media, Rick Yorn, Cisely Mariel, Ashland Hill, Sycuan Tribal, Ruben Islas, Jolene Rodriguez and Stanley Preschutti all contribute as EPs on Perego’s upcoming film. The Absence of Eden also stars Sophia Hammons, Chris Coy and Laura Cruz.