Magnolia Pictures has snagged the North American rights to Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi pic “Little Joe,” with plans for a theatrical release later in the year, Variety reports. The feature premiered at Cannes in May, where it won the Best Actress award for star Emily Beecham.

Written by Hausner and Géraldine Bajard, “Little Joe” centers on single mother and corporate plant breeder Alice (Beecham), who concocts a new plant species that emits a happiness-inducing scent. When she steals her new creation for her teenage son, Alice begins to grow suspicious that her new creation may “do more harm than good.”

Hausner’s English-language debut is “an incredibly unnerving feature, with a stunner of a performance by Emily Beecham,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “‘Little Joe’ is a terrifically executed film that is terrifying in its plausibility.”

“Knowing their reputation and stunning portfolio, I’m delighted that “Little Joe” will be released by Magnolia,” Hausner stated.

The Australian filmmaker’s previous directing and writing credits include “Toast,” “Hotel,” “Lovely Rita,”  “Amour Fou,” which won Best Film at the 2014 Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival, and “Lourdes,” winner of Best Foreign Film for the 2009 Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards, 2011 Guldbagge Awards, and the 2009 Seville European Film Festival.

Beecham’s previous acting credits include “Daphne,” for which she won Best Actress at the 2009 London Independent Film Festival, and “The Calling,” which landed her the Best Actress prize at the 2017 Torino Film Festival.