It's in my soul - actor brings small town novel to big screen

What happens when you bring together a group of friends desperate to escape their small town lives, a ceasefire and 1990s rave culture?

The answer - Skintown, actor and author Ciarán McMenamin's debut novel which is about to hit the big screen at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The Hope Street star's 2017 novel is based on his hometown and will premiere this weekend.

"To get to this stage is a joy really, and the Edinburgh Festival - you couldn't get a better festival for this film," said McMenamin.

He said this will be the first time he will see the entire film "from start to finish".

"It's the best film for that market and it's the coolest festival so we're very excited about it."

McMenamin was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, and the title of his novel and film comes from the town's nickname.

Directed by Kieron Walsh, Skintown stars Jack Rowan, Chris Walley, Hope Ikpoku Jnr and Derry Girls' Jamie-Lee O'Donnell.

While the story itself is a work of fiction, McMenamin said the world of Skintown is very much based on his own personal experiences of a teenager growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and trying to escape that.

"The world is mine, and that of my friends we grew up in," he explained.

"The escapism of the rave, and the communities, the kids coming together and realising that they have more in common than they thought.

"It is a work of fiction but there is a lot of me in it."

"I am bringing my sisters [to the premiere] as it is obviously a Fermanagh occasion. We are putting Enniskillen on the celluloid map," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

The film, he said, is about "resilience and hope", adding its soundtrack is "a real banger".

The soundtrack will also help transport the audience back in time with Prodigy, Elastica, Happy Mondays and Carl Cox featuring.

The rave scene, McMenamin added, "genuinely was a big factor in bringing a divided community together".

"We all started hanging out with kids from the other side of the fence that we didn't really know before," he said.

"Essentially it is my love letter to where I am from. There is a lot of my youth in it."

Despite starring Derry Girls' O'Donnell and Tara Lynne O'Neill, McMenamin said that's where the comparisons end with Lisa McGee's hit show, which was also set during the same period in Northern Ireland.

"The humour is the same," he said. "If we've landed anything half as well as Lisa McGee, we will be over the moon.

"It's the same era and some of the humour will definitely be the same tone – as that's our sense of humour.

"That's the thing about the film I'm proudest about - the humour.

"There's a lot of the film which is very serious, it has a very serious message and it's quite a heavy drama at times but it's also a good night out and the boys in it are brilliant. It's good fun."

McMenamin said he never imagined Skintown would be turned into a film and was proud to put his hometown and the essence of it on the big screen.

"Fermanagh isn't a part of the world that has been on screen a lot," he said.

"So, if I can be the guy that brought Fermanagh to the screen, I'll die happy.

"I do like writing about home because I miss it and it's in my soul.

"I live in England, which is great, but I think looking back at where you are from, when you are not there, can give you quite an interesting perspective in terms of storytelling."