Kim Nguyen (pictured left) has been named as the writer and director of Le Sablier (The Hourglass), an adaptation of Édith Blais’ nonfiction book Le sablier: otage au Sahara pendant 450 jours.

The film is currently in the financing phase and will mark the director’s ninth feature. Pierre Even produces for his Montreal-based prodco Item 7 alongside Adrià Mones of Spain’s Fasten Films. It is distributed in Canada by Les Films Opale with a release planned for 2026. It has received financial support from Telefilm Canada.

The film is set to shoot in Quebec and the Canary Islands in winter 2026.

In 2019, Blais and her travelling companion, Luca Tacchetto, were kidnapped and held captive by a terrorist group in Mali for 15 months. Two years later, Blais released a book detailing her experiences in captivity. Quebec actor Marine Johnson (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes; pictured right) is set to star as Blais.

Nguyen’s previous features include the Oscar-nominated and Canadian Screen Award-winning War Witch and his 2016 drama Two Lovers and a Bear.

Kim Nguyen photo by Guillaume Levasseur; Marine Johnson photo by Éva-Maude TC