Outside of District 9

A film that has given Cloverfield a run for it's money in terms of flying under the radar and the amount of secrecy behind it is District 9.  A bit of background on the production.  The film the brainchild of South African Neil Bloomkamp, Bloomkamp was attached to helm the Halo film before Fox and Universal split over budgetary (and possibly that Bloomkamp had never helmed a feature before) issues.  After Halo was declared dead, Bloomkamp directed the live-action commercials for Halo 3  The last word was that he and Executive Producer Peter Jackson apparently were collaborating on an original science fiction film.  And now only a few months from release, news is finally trickling out of South Africa.

Based off Bloomkamp's short film Alive in Joburg (check it out on Youtube), District 9 tells the story of an alien race forced to live in slumlike conditions on Earth.  The company Multi-National United is picked to keep an eye on them and leads people to believe the alien's living conditions are adequate.  The surpressed aliens are at MNU's complete mercy, then they find an ally, a government agent who has exposed to the alien's biotechnology.

The folks over at ComingSoon got a look at the signpost located outside of the film's titular district.  Not much is visible beyond, but I'm guessing production design akin to a mix between refugee camps and ghettos.  District 9 is due out on August 14, 2009.