Skintown to Premiere at Edinburgh Film Festival, Bringing 1990s Belfast Rave Culture to the Big Screen
A film rooted in the chaos and euphoria of 1990s Northern Ireland gets its first audience this weekend. Skintown, directed by Kieron J. Walsh, receives its world premiere in competition at the 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival on Sunday, 16 August 2026 (Northern Ireland Screen).
The festival runs 13–19 August. Skintown is adapted by Ciarán McMenamin from his own 2018 novel of the same name, set against the 1994 IRA ceasefire — a fragile moment when sectarian violence paused and underground rave culture filled the gap (The Hollywood Reporter).
Jack Rowan, known from Peaky Blinders and Noughts + Crosses, leads as Vinny. Chris Walley plays his best friend Jonty. The supporting cast includes Jamie-Lee O'Donnell of Derry Girls and Hope Ikpoku Jr. of The Day of the Jackal (The Hollywood Reporter). Screen Ireland's 2026 production slate adds further names to the ensemble: Roisin Gallagher, Siobhán Cullen, Ciarán Hinds, Pom Boyd, and Adam John Richardson (Screen Ireland).
The path to the screen was not quick. Anthony Boyle was originally cast in Rowan's role and stayed attached for two years before production stalled; Boyle moved on to Netflix's House of Guinness, and Rowan stepped in (The Hollywood Reporter). The film was shot on location in Dublin over a tight 22-day schedule (Screen Ireland). Yvonne Donohoe produces (Northern Ireland Screen).
Walsh, the director, first met McMenamin in 1998 — six years before the novel was published and nearly three decades before this screen version reached a festival audience (The Hollywood Reporter).
For a film about a ceasefire that let a generation dance, the long wait has its own symmetry.
