Starburst

Since 1947, Edinburgh, Scotland, has hosted an annual three-week international festival featuring music, dance, and comedy. Pilcher assembles an unlikely cast of characters drawn to this frenetic event. A young, beautiful French violin virtuoso, an English mother working as a comic, a retired photography director, and a newlywed festival director, among others, meet and forge friendships as they each chase their dreams. Angelique Pascal, the 21-year-old violinist, is one of the star attractions, but her manager keeps her on a tight schedule and is always at her side, so that she never experiences the world outside her music. When her decision to go out on her own is met with violence, social acquaintances join forces to help her escape as they also try to enhance their own lives. The festival ends with spectacular fireworks that constitute the swan song for the pyrotechnic company owner, and illuminate the changes each individual undergoes. Pilcher has created an ambitious cast of characters of different ages and from all walks of life, and as their lives intersect and mesh, he tells a beautiful and cohesive story about the human spirit and our capacity for adaptation and growth.