Directed by Rick Lombardo**
The time is the Dark Ages and the place England, as Ymma, a young noblewoman in exile from Normandy, arrives on the shores of Canterbury. Passionate, brilliant, fiery, and beautiful, Ymma quickly offends Ethelred, England’s narrow-minded king. As punishment, he commands her to marry Silence, a fourteen-year-old lord who longs to become a warrior. Quickly, the newlyweds conspire to take advantage of their mismatched marriage, reaching an agreement that grants them both their freedom. Ymma and Silence set out on the open road, but as Viking warriors threaten the shores of England, as the new millennium dawns and the faithful wonder if the apocalypse is at hand, the young couple’s strength is tested. Smart, sexy, silly, and overflowing with ideas, Silence interweaves youthful adventure with a profound meditation on questions of identity, freedom, religion, nationalism, and the possibilities of faith and tolerance in an uncertain world.
Photo: Lewis D. Wheeler. Photo by Andrew Brilliant/Brilliant Pictures