Amazon’s upcoming feature film Selah and the Spades shows off the closed world and illicit activities of an elite Pennsylvania boarding school.

Selah and the Spades takes place in the closed world of an elite Pennsylvania boarding school, Haldwell. There, the student body is run by five factions. Seventeen-year-old Selah Summers runs the most dominant group, the Spades, with unshakable poise, as they cater to the most classic of vices and supply students with coveted, illegal alcohol and pills.

Tensions between the factions escalate, and when Selah’s best friend/right hand Maxxie becomes distracted by a new love, Selah takes on a protégée, enamored sophomore Paloma, to whom she imparts her wisdom on ruling the school. But with graduation looming and Paloma proving an impressively quick study, Selah’s fears turn sinister as she grapples with losing the control by which she defines herself.

Check out the trailer for Selah and the Spades below!

Selah and the Spades is writer/director Tayarisha Poe’s feature debut. In it, she immerses us in a heightened depiction of teenage politics. This searing character study encapsulates just how intoxicating power can be for a teenage girl who acutely feels the threat of being denied it.

Selah and the Spades stars exciting newcomer Lovie Simone (Greenleaf, The Craft), whose performance beautifully embodies both Selah’s publicly impeccable command and the internal fears and uncertainty that drive it.

Joining her are Celeste O’Connor as Paloma, and Emmy Award-winning actor Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight, When They See Us) as Maxxie. It will also feature Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy, Cabin in the Woods) and Gina Torres (Suits).

The movie first premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was well-received by the critics who screened it. The film currently has a 91% on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.

Selah and the Spades will premiere on Amazon on April 17.