Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s upcoming thriller The Worthy had its world premiere at the prestigious BFI London Film Festival last night – with a crowd of over 200 hundred film fans attending the screening.

The film screened at London’s Leicester Square and was followed by an audience Q&A with director Ali Mostafa, producer Rami Yasin and Mohammed Mostafa – Ali’s younger brother who plays a central role in the film.

The Worthy, set in dystopian future, tells the story surrounding a chronic water shortage that has plunged the world into chaos. A small group of survivors, who have taken refuge near the only available clean water source, are thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse and must defend their lives from infiltrators who aren’t what they seem.

Audience members took to social media following the screening to call the Arabic-language film ‘ground-breaking’, ‘a gripping, must-see thriller’ and ‘amazing’.

The film marks Mostafa’s first action film and sees him re-team with several of his previous collaborators including actors Samer Al Masri (Bab Al Hara), Ali Suliman (Zinzana, Paradise Now) and Habib Ghuloom (City of Life), as well asregional producer Rami Yasin (Sea Shadow, Zinzana).

Mahmoud El Altrash, Samer Ismael (Omar) and Maisa Abd Elhadi (3000 Nights) also star in the film, produced by Hollywood veterans Peter Safran (The Conjuring, Annabelle) and Steven Schneider (Paranormal Activity, Insidious) alongside Yasin.

The Worthy is slated to be released theatrically in early 2017, with a Middle Eastern premiere and further film festivals to be announced in the coming months.