Budding actress Orla Hill has been in the spotlight from a very young age, having been acknowledged for her roles in movies such as Unfinished Song (2012) and Lily and the Revolution (2014).
While speaking to the 14-year-old at the 13th Dubai International Film Festival, she admitted to considering the 2016 movie Swallows and Amazons, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, as one that catapulted her to new heights in Hollywood.
“I have been acting since I was ten and I have always loved it, but this movie was a different level and on a completely different and bigger scale, so it is definitely a bit daunting and you feel nervous but it’s just been an amazing experience altogether,” Hill said.
Hill walked the Diff Red Carpet on December 9 with co-star Bobby McCullough and screenwriter Andrea Gibb.
Swallows and Amazons is about four children who are on an island for a holiday when they come across rivals with whom they start a war, while a mysterious man on a houseboat accuses them of a misconduct they did not commit.
Hill also talked about some of the challenges she faced while shooting the movie.
“Everything that you see on the screen is real, so we had to spend nearly four weeks non-stop on a boat. You spend so much time with these wonderful people who you have never met before, so it is really difficult and takes a lot of time,” Hill said. “Then there were scenes where you had to look into the water and scream, which was really hard to film because there was nobody in the water. So we were just yelling at the lake. In the end it was [the] interesting and difficult experiences that made the film.”
The movie was shown at the Children’s Red Carpet Gala at Madinat Jumeirah. It was one of three movies from the Cinema for Children programme.
— The Young Journalist Award (YJA) at Diff is a training programme for high school students who are aspiring writers and reporters. Eight students are competing at the festival this year between December 7-14. One winner will secure a month-long internship with Gulf News.
