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| Louis McCartney and Ella Lily Hyland in Silent Roar Photo: Ali Tollervey |
Johnny Barrington's debut feature stars newcomer Louis McCartney as Dondo, a young surfer struggling to accept his father’s recent disappearance at sea. Caught up in grief, he is brought to his senses by rebellious crush Sas (Ella Lily Hyland, also making her feature film debut). But when an oddly-behaved new minister arrives on the island, Dondo begins to have cosmic visions.
The film was shot on the Outer Hebrides by Barrington, whose previous work includes BAFTA-nominated short film Tumult.
This year's festival is returning under the umbrella of Edinburgh International Festival for this year after its parent company the Centre for the Moving Image went into administration last October.
Barrington said: “I’m delighted for Silent Roar to have its world premiere at EIFF, and start its life from a festival and a city so close to my heart. The film is a fun ride into surfing, death and the cosmos and awkward high school memories from the 90’s. The shoot was the best time of my life, with the best cast and crew in the world sweating creative blood… (and partying hard at weekends - or so I have been told). What formed is a story well wadded with ineffable nonsense, tears and laughter. So, if you like staring into sea caves, the human soul and cement mixers, then you’ll love Silent Roar.”
The film festival's programme director Kate Taylor added: “Silent Roar is a very easy film to fall in love with. From the idiosyncratic charm of Louis McCartney’s performance, to Ella Lily Hyland’s turn as crisp-chomping cool girl Sas, to Hannah Peel’s soaring score, the film is infused with mystic charisma. Johnny Barrington renders the Hebridean landscape, shot on film, as something strange and elemental: a place where we can see transgressive explorations of mourning exist alongside witty forays into religion and teenage hormonal curiosity. Stylistically, Silent Roar is the kind of bold, vivid and highly absorbing cinema that EIFF wants to champion, and we can’t wait to give the film a beautiful launch into the world.”
The festival will announce its full programme on July 6 and run from August 18 to 23.
