Exclusive: Vertical has acquired North American rights to The New Boy, starring Cate Blanchett (Black Bag) and newcomer Aswan Reid, slating the film for release in theaters on May 23.

Written and directed by Warwick Thornton, the Australian filmmaker behind titles like Sweet Country and Samson & Delilah, The New Boy takes place in 1940s Australia at a remote monastery with a mission for Aboriginal children run by a renegade nun, Sister Eileen (Blanchett). In the film, a new charge (Reid) is delivered in the dead of night — a boy who appears to have special powers. However, the boy’s Indigenous spiritual life does not mesh with the mission’s Christianity and his mysterious power becomes a threat. Sister Eileen is thus faced with a choice between the traditions of her faith and the truth embodied in the boy.

Also starring Deborah Mailman (Rabbit Proof Fence) and Wayne Blair (Seriously Red), the...