The Impossible will be trying to compete for awards, with its US release set for December 21st, just in time to qualify for the 2013 Oscars, with the movie reaching UK shores on January 4th. Here’s the synopsis, ‘Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. Based on a true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human hear.’

The Boxing Day tsunami was such a huge event that film has often seemed unsure how to deal with it. There was an exceptional sequence in Hereafter, but the first major movie to deal head-on with it will come this year with The Impossible, from The Orphanage director Juan Antonio Bayona. The first full trailer has now appeared, and while it’s dubbed in Spanish, it introduces us to Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as a mother and father who are on holiday in Thailand with their kids when the tsunami hits. Separated from one another, they must find each other amongst the debris. It doesn’t seem it’ll be an easy watch, but it should hit cinemas this autumn.