Madonna to direct film in Kenya

© Jiri Hera via Fotolia.com

In the novel, a female 19-year old American student sets out to travel with her friend to Egypt and ends in Lamu, off the coast of Kenya. There, she falls in love with a handsome Swahili Muslim man named Ade, who names her Farida.

But when Farida contracts malaria and finds herself caught in the middle of a civil war, reality crashes in around them. The lovers' solitude is interrupted by a world in the throes of massive upheaval that threatens to tear them apart, along with all they cherish.

According to Shadow and Act, the film adaptation of Ade will be produced by Bruce Cohen through his Bruce Cohen Productions company with Jessica Leventhal, his director of development, and author Rebecca Walker.

This is not Madonna's first directorial debut, she has worked on films like W.E., about the relationship between British King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and Filth and Wisdom, a comedy about room mates living desperate lives in London.