During desperate times, everyone needs to scrape by in life with every penny.

In the drama Holler, the film follows a young teenager (played by Jessica Barden), who resorted to scrapping metals and reselling for money at a local scrapyard. The emotional story showcases the hard times of families in the Rust Belt as siblings scrounge for survival.

Here’s the official synopsis for Holler:

In a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up, a determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.

The film stars Jessica Barden, Gus Halper, Pamela Adlon, and Becky Ann Becker. Nicole Riegal wrote and directed the movie.

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LRM Online’s Gig Patta talked with actress Jessica Barden and director/writer Nicole Riegel on scrapping, characters, and the film production in the Midwest.

Jessica Barden is best known for her breakout role of Alysssa in the Netflix series The End of the F*cking World. Previously, she appeared in Jungleland opposite to Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam. Also, she was in the Australian mini-series Lambs of God, based on the book by Marele Day and opposite to Ann Dowd. Additional credits included The New Romantic, The Lobster, Far From the Maddening Crowd, Lullaby, Hanna television series, Penny Dreadful, and Tamara Drewe.

Nicole Riegel was named one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2020. She served in the military prior to graduating from UCLA’s MFA writing program. Also, she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 Faces of Independent Film. She had been supported by Sundance through their Screenwriter’s Lab and the Skywalker Sound+Music Lab.

Holler is currently playing in select theaters today. It is also available On Demand and digitally.

Watch the exclusive interview below with Jessica Barden and Nicole Riegel. Let us know what you think.

Source: LRM Online Exclusive, IFC Films