David Cronenberg has attached himself to Eastern Promises, an upcoming thriller from BBC Films and Focus Features.

According to Variety, the movie will centre on a young midwife who sets about trying to discover the identity of a Russian girl who dies during childbirth on Christmas Eve. When she finds that the deceased was a prostitute, the midwife is drawn into danger.

Cronenberg will direct from a script by Steve Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), with shooting slated to begin this autumn.