

The official U.S. trailer has just been released for the latest release from Finnish auteur Mika Kaurismaki — an ambitious period drama about the cross-dressing queen of Sweden who also went down in history (so to speak) as the world’s most famous lesbian monarch.

The Girl King features an impressive international cast including Swedish star Malin Buska as Queen Kristina and Canadian actress Sarah Gadon (A Royal Night Out, Dracula Untold) as her love interest, the Countess Ebba Sparre. The film co-stars Francois Arnaud (yes, Cesare from The Borgias who also co-starred in Xavier Dolan’s I Killed My Mother); Lucas Bryant (from Showtime’s Queer as Folk); Patrick Bauchau (who starred as X in Boy Culture) and the very handsome Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc.).

But the film’s ultimate queer credential is its screenplay, adapted by playwright Michel Marc Bouchard from his massively popular Canadian stage play of the same name. Out gay writer Bouchard is best know for his 1997 screenplay for Lilies and his more recent script for Xavier Dolan’s Tom at the Farm.

Lastly, if this plot all sounds slightly familiar you’re probably aware of the 1930 Rouben Mamoulian drama, Queen Christina — which starred Greta Garbo as the titular queen and was written by her lesbian best friend Salka Viertel. Look for The Girl King coming to theaters, VOD and DVD towards the end of 2015. It was also just announced yesterday as part of this year’s NewFest International Dramatic competition (NewFest runs October 22-27 in New York City).