The Visit, Like Sisters, Storjka

Abstract

This master's thesis is comprised of three short film scripts: The Visit, Like Sisters, and Storjka. The Visit, a Depression-era dramatic short film, is filled the realities of hard living in the dust bowl of America's mid-western Kansas. Lilli, a young mother and estranged wife, finds solace in the mysticism of the gypsy culture and Cherokee influence of her locale and heritage. She must decide whether to holdfast to her flawed Catholic marital family, struggling in a downward sloping economy or find hope in a friendship that defies social norms. The Gothic drama, Like Sisters, is set in the deep American South. Ashling has visions of her dead sister as her wedding night unfolds. She is pulled between the love and friendship that she feels toward Della and her disapproving groom. The sisterhood between Ashling and Della overshadows her relationship with husband, Jackson. Ashling is forced to ask herself, can she choose between the sister she has found in her best friend and the man that she loves? Storjka is a first act to a larger work, set in the post-industrial collapse in America. This storyline will spark the protagonist, Corinne, on a journey, searching for community after a tragedy leaves her utterly self-sufficient and alone. A variety of burgeoning communities spring up in the world of the film and as a child of the time, she must discover where she fits in. The longer screenplay will explore, newness and invention, the untouched or re-purposed landscape of eastern North Carolina, and what it means to belong to a community. In this first act, Corinne must accept her fate and decide whether to keep her unborn baby or seek out a home to foster family.