Radio Silence
dir.Duncan Cowles
Co-Produced by Scott Willis
What stops a father and son from being able to talk?
With a vimeo staff pick on fathers day, Duncan Cowles’ Radio Silence highlights that daddy issues go beyond an Edinburgh suburb, but instead resonate with an international audience.
“As far back as I can remember my Dad and I haven’t been able to talk to each other very well. I know hardly anything about him, except that he likes jazz music and fiddling with old radios in the garage.
Did my Dad talk to his Dad? I think they worked on radios together. In an attempt to find out why my Dad and I don’t talk, I look at the life of a man I know even less about. My Dad’s Father.”
As Duncan explains the motivation behind the project, it encourages an audience to question their own relationship with their dads. On self-reflection it seems to be a common fixture; Is it just a bloke thing or is this silence present between father and daughter?
As Co-producer on the project, I was interested to see what Duncan would discover while interviewing his own family. One of the best finds for the film was the extensive collection of archive material that his grandfather had shot and was stored away by his aunt. However the warmth that is expected from a childhood caught on super 8 is missing. The footage appears sinister. Duncan’s aunt reveals that this silence is not a bloke thing but the aftermath of his grandfather’s alcohol abuse.
Radio Silence was nominated for a Scottish New Talent Bafta as well as a RTS award in 2014. Recently, Radio Silence came second place in IdeasTap Graduation Film Award… The winning film was a film I directed, Tapes From The Revolutionary. Duncan and I aim to work together on future work so keep an eye out!