Claire Foy Takes Flight in the First Trailer for H Is for Hawk

Roadside Attractions has released the first trailer for H Is for Hawk, director Philippa Lowthorpe’s adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s memoir about grief, nature, and healing. Lowthorpe (Call the Midwife; The Crown) co-wrote the screenplay with Room author Emma Donoghue.

Claire Foy stars as Helen, whose world shatters after the sudden death of her father (Brendan Gleeson), a renowned British photojournalist and passionate falconer. Seeking some thread of connection back to him, she turns to the same ancient discipline he loved: training a young goshawk named Mabel. The process is painstaking, intimate, and at times terrifying, less a hobby than a full surrender to the rhythms of the natural world.

The memoir, published in 2014 and a winner of both the Costa Book of the Year and the Samuel Johnson Prize, became a touchstone for readers trying to make sense of loss. Lowthorpe’s film leans into the reality of falconry, an insight into a world and a ritual not often shown on the screen, examining the slow building of trust between human and creature. Foy reportedly underwent extensive falconry training, and the film’s earliest festival responses, following its premiere at Telluride, praised the immediacy of those scenes.

Alongside Foy and Gleeson, the film features Denise Gough, Sam Spruell, and Lindsay Duncan. Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner produced.

Roadside Attractions will open H Is for Hawk for a one-week awards-qualifying run in December, followed by a nationwide theatrical release on January 23, 2026.

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