A Short Film
Ariel Djanikian
Colby Gottert
"Have You Been to the River?" is a psychological drama about Nadia, a teenager who was in boarding school, not doing well in her classes, when against her wishes her father, Nicholas, summoned her out of school and to his new, luxurious house by the water. Now together, father and daughter must unpack the shared memories of a tragic car accident that killed Nadia’s mother, Marie, while they also recover from their own injuries, which left them each altered in their mind and perceptions. Nadia knows that there was a crash over the bridge and into the water, but beyond that she does not remember the details or understand why she is unable to move on from the accident.
She is angry with her father because he refuses to help her remember her mother, and has cleared the home of all photographs. To make matters worse, Nadia is trapped in this isolated home on the top of a mountain with no neighbors, no cellphone reception and no Wi-Fi. One day in the woods, Nadia meets a girl named Aidan who knows things, she knows where to get cellphone reception, she knows about the crash and she even knows about Nadia’s mother. As the story unfolds, Nadia must process traumatic dreams that haunt her, navigate her anger with her father and confront her fear of water to discover secrets about herself and the car accident that led to the death of her mother.
Nadia in a teenage girl struggling to recover the memory of her deceased mother. She is smart, cool and has the right splash of sassy irreverence. Angered by her father she strikes out on her own and pushed past her fear of water in search of a way out.
Father is in his late 40’s or early 50’s. An artist who is rigid and OCD: the house is immaculate and ordered. The accident has left his with trauma to the right side of the brain, so he can remember what happened, but his memories are fading and he seeks to preserve the memory by painting his deceased wife anew every single day.He loves Katherine and wants to be a welcoming and loving father who can support her and make her comfortable, but he is quick to lose his temper and erupt in anger.
Aidan is mysterious. She appears and disappears without sound or greeting. She is Katherine’s source of strength, inspiration and information, but she is also eerie with a supernatural quality that never allows Katherine to be fully at ease around her.
Marie is elusive and dreamlike. Katherine can’t access her memories of her mother and Nicholas fears losing his.
