Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe (Misbehaviour) and co-written with Emma Donoghue, H is for Hawk is adapted from the novel by Helen Macdonald. The film stars Claire Foy as Helen, a Cambridge graduate fellow struggling to cope with the passing of her nature-obsessed father (Brendan Gleeson). To connect with his memory, Helen obtains a Hawk named Mabel and devotes herself to taming the wild bird.
Lindsay Duncan, Denise Gough and Sam Spruell also star.
H is for Hawk is in UK/ROI cinemas from January 23rd, 2026.
Check out the trailer and poster below.
The official synopsis reads:
When Helen's beloved father passes away, she is knocked sideways by grief and loses herself in memories of their time birding and exploring the natural world together. She becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk, and so she brings the fearsome bird Mabel home to her life as a graduate fellow at Cambridge. Helen fills the freezer with hawk food and turns off her phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this wildest of animals. But as she labours to tame Mabel, a grieving Helen undergoes an untaming of her own. A record of a spiritual journey, H IS FOR HAWK is a story about memory and nature and how it might be possible to reconcile death with life and love.
