The History Of Sound Gets Official Trailer

The trailer for The History of Sound has been released by MUBI, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

This period romantic drama premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, with a cinema release date of September 12 this year. It is directed by Oliver Hermanus and written by Ben Shattuck, set during World War I and following two men who wish to record the lives, voices and music of their fellow Americans.

The History of Sound sees young music student Lionel (Mescal) meet David (O’Connor) at the Boston Conservatory in 1917, where they bond over a passion for folk music. Years go by before Lionel gets a letter from David, which leads them both to Maine to collect traditional songs while a love affair ensues.

The film is based on the short story of the same name by Shattuck.

Mescal burst onto the scene with TV series Normal People (2020) and has since starred in All of Us Strangers (2023) and Gladiator II (2024). O’Connor is known for his appearances in TV series The Crown as a young King Charles and films Challengers (2024) and La Chimera (2023).

Molly Price, Alison Bartlett, Chris Cooper, Hadley Robinson, Raphael Sbarge, Peter Mark Kendall, Emma Canning, Briana Middleton, Alessandro Bedetti, and more make up the rest of the cast.

It is produced by Lisa Ciuffetti, Oliver Hermanus, Andrew Kortschak, Sara Murphy, Thérèsa Ryan, Zhang Xin, Tatiana Bears, Lara Costa Calzado, Giovanni Pompili, Bruno Vernaschi-Berman, and Sean Wheelan. The creative team also includes cinematographer Alexander Dynan and editor Chris Wyatt.