LFF: Silence

A sound recordist living in Berlin is drawn to return to Ireland when he is offered a job capturing noises in areas free from man-made sound. He explores some of the most remote and arresting parts of the country, encountering a number of characters en route to the home he escaped on the isle of Tory, off the coast of Donegal.

Renowned for his documentary work, Pat Collins has delivered a remarkable first fiction feature with Silence, a simple, haunting and poetic vision of Ireland which brings to mind few precedents and defies easy categorisation. The often-improvised dialogue allows for some reflections on the country’s history and folk culture, yet it is the beautifully photographed landscapes, along with the film’s striking sound, that resonate and linger in the mind and make Silence such an absorbing experience.

(Notes by Michael Hayden)