Scott Graham

Shell Scott Graham

Scott Graham's directorial debut examines the intense relationship between a father and daughter living a secluded life in the Highlands of Scotland. Ever since her mother walked out on the family when she was a young girl, 17-year-old Shell (Chloe Pirrie) has lived with her epileptic, emotionally-damaged father, Pete (Joseph Mawle), helping to run their remote petrol station-cum-breakdown yard in an area of the Highlands known as the 'Great Wilderness'. A bright girl, but with underlying issues, Shell's refusal to acknowledge the advances of locals Hugh and Adam (Michael Smiley and Iain De Caestecker) in favour of her dad's company, signals potential problems ahead.

Her horizons are unexpectedly widened, however, when a chance meeting with an Edinburgh couple results in her receiving a copy of Carson McCullers' novel 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter', an exploration of alienation and loneliness in 1930s America.