Warrington Author's Debut Film THE VIOLATORS to Screen in Hometown

Critically-acclaimed writer Helen Walsh is bringing her first film back to her home town as part of Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival.

The author of The Lemon Grove, Brass and Once Upon a Time in England will also be taking part in a question and answer session following the end of the film.

Described by The Times as "a powerful debut" and "impressive, credible and fascinating" by The Film Review on BBC News, The Violators is a powerful and engaging British drama.

The cast is led by rising stars Lauren McQueen (The Mill, Ordinary Lies) and Brogan Ellis (Waterloo Road) alongside Stephen Lord (Penny Dreadful, Shameless, Route Irish), Liam Ainsworth (Kajaki), Derek Barr (Pride) and newcomer Callum King Chadwick.

After testifying against her abusive father, Shelly (McQueen) finds herself rehoused on a sink estate she can barely call home. A petty thief, Shelly spends her days roaming the estate and docklands in search of opportunities.

When she attracts the attention of estate loan shark and groomer Mikey Finnegan (Lord), Shelly finds herself thrust under the watchful gaze of a mysterious stranger, Rachel (Ellis).

As Shelly's relationship with Mikey develops, so does Rachel's fixation with Shelly. The shock revelation that Shelly's father is to be given early parole forces Shelly to make a decision that will alter the fates of all three of them forever.

Set amid the desolate beauty of a post-industrial wasteland, The Violators is a meditation on the meaning of home, and the potency and fragility of young girls' sexuality.

Helen Walsh, who wrote and directed The Violators, was born in Warrington in 1976 and her first novel Brass, about a female sex addict, was the recipient of a Betty Trask Award and was published to great acclaim around the world.

Her second novel, Once Upon a Time in England, won the Somerset Maugham Prize.

Helen has written four novels to date, all of which have been published internationally. The Lemon Grove, her most recent, was a critically-acclaimed best-seller. All of her work touches upon the complexities and ambiguities of female sexuality.

The Violators marks her debut feature film as writer/director and is produced by Red Union Films, with the support of the BFI Film Fund.

The Arts Desk described the film as "ballsy, bruising, brilliant" and The Upcoming said it was "absorbing, hard-hitting and quietly powerful".

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