Islands premiere: On the red carpet with Jan-Ole Gerster, Sam Riley and Jack Farthing

This new feature, Islands from German filmmaker Jan-Ole Gerster, is a noir-mystery that brings with it an essence of sexual tension and intrigue as it focuses its plot on a small group of holiday makers visiting a hidden hotel resort located in the dunes of Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands.

Sam Riley stars as Tom, also known as “Ace”, the tennis coach at the resort who, in between lessons, succumbs to hedonistic tendencies at the local nightclub. When a dysfunctional young couple on holiday there book in tennis tuition for their young son, the relationship deepens between the trio and leads to the disappearance of the father, Dave (Jack Farthing) and a possible paternity dispute.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to Gerster at the UK screening about where his inspiration for the film came from, finding the perfect location to tell his story and how he chose the perfect cast.

Riley spoke to us about stepping into the role of Tom, the collaborative process to bring it to screen and the subtlety of his character.

We chatted to Farthing about some of his favourite scenes, working with his co-stars to tell this story of mystery and intrigue and how they had time to explore the beautiful landscape of this Spanish island.

Stacy Martin spoke about what appealed to her about the script, in particular about her character and how she approached her complex role.

Ezelle Alblas

Islands is released nationwide on 12^th September 2025.

Watch the trailer for Islands here: