THE HISTORY OF SOUND

OLIVER HERMANUS | UNITED KINGDOM, SWEDEN, USA + ITALY | 2025 | 127 MIN | ENGLISH

Feature

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Synopsis

Lionel and David have a mutual passion for music and an abiding affection. Their love story, one of parting and reuniting, of the frigid Maine wilderness and the hot cobblestone streets of Rome. The two chasing down scraps of sound and fleeting moments of connection before they may disappear altogether. When vocalist Lionel (Paul Mescal) hears composer David (Josh O’Connor) playing the piano in a Boston pub—a song he knows from back home in Kentucky—it transports him, and the two experience a crackling chemistry. A synesthete, Lionel can “see music,” taste it too. While David has a photographic memory, a thousand songs in his head. Armed with these skills and a case of wax cylinders, the two eventually embark on a trek to capture old folk songs in Maine’s remotest places, including Malaga Island as its Black and Irish residents face eviction. The men pass happy, hardscrabble weeks—though they will have to stray much farther afield before they can complete the song their hearts are singing. Directed by Queer Palm Award-winner Oliver Hermanus (Beauty, I+N22, 2011), The History of Sound is a stirring, tuneful historical drama that will leave you forever moved.

Trailer

Filmmaker Bio

Oliver Hermanus is a South African born writer and filmmaker. His first feature, Shirley Adams premiered in Competition at the Locarno Film Festival in 2009. His second, Skoonheid premiered in the Un Certain Regard Competition at the Cannes in 2011, winning the Queer Palm. His next feature, The Endless River became the first South African film to ever be invited to Competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2015. In 2019 he made Moffie, premiering in the Orizzonti selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. In 2021, Oliver made his first film outside of South Africa - Living. It premiered at Sundance before going on to screen at the Venice, Telluride, Toronto and London Film Festivals and earning two Academy Award nominations. In 2025 he presented The History of Sound in Competition at Cannes.

Producer

Sara Murphy, Andrew Kortschak, Lisa Ciuffetti, Thérèsa Ryan-Van Graan, Oliver Hermanus, Zhang Xin

Writer

Ben Shattuck

Cinematographer

Alexander Dynan

Cast

Paul Mescal
Josh O’Connor
Chris Cooper
Molly Price
Raphael Sbarge
Hadley Robinson
Emma Canning

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