Director Zal Batmanglij and co-writer/star Brit Marling certainly seem drawn to stories featuring people joining unusual groups. On the heels on the intriguing, low-fi Sound Of My Voice comes pet project The East, which delves into an anarchist group and the corporate spy sent to infiltrate them. Check out the first trailer over at Apple. This time around, it’s Marling who is the outsider, playing Sarah Moss, a talented operative for an elite private intelligence firm that will stop at nothing to protect the interests of their rich corporate clients. But when she’s assigned to go undercover with an anarchist collective that targets big business (think the paramilitary wing of the Occupy movement), she finds that time spent among them starts to change her perspective.
And when she begins to fall in love with the group’s charismatic leader, things get even more divisive… Given how much we enjoyed Sound Of My Voice, we’re definitely interested to see the next step from the duo. With a cast that includes Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard, Julia Ormond and Patricia Clarkson, it all points to something challenging and entertaining. The East has already screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and has the backing of Fox Searchlight, but no release date has been set yet. | 
