While there have been plenty of movies about soldiers returning home from war and adjusting to civilian life, few have been told from a female perspective. However, “Blood Stripe” offers an intriguing break from the usual, and today we have the exclusive trailer for the film.
Co-written and directed by Remy Auberjonois, and starring Kate Nowlin (who also co-wrote the film), Tom Lipinski, Chris Sullivan, Rusty Schwimmer, Ashlie Atkinson, Ken Marks, and Rene Auberjonois, the story follows a woman who returns from three tours in Afghanistan. Struggling with PTSD she tries to find her footing back on U.S. soil. Here’s the synopsis:
Our Sergeant (Kate Nowlin) returns home after a third tour with the Marines in Afghanistan. Unable to sleep, wracked by paranoia and anxiety, it is clear that in addition to the scars she bears on her body, she also carries unseen wounds. When a boisterous homecoming party provokes an explosive outburst, Our Sergeant has nowhere to turn, and so she runs deep into the North Woods of Minnesota. Discovering a picturesque summer camp on a lake, Our Sergeant seeks refuge and, at first, finds solace. But she cannot outrun her own heart of darkness and the pristine wilderness eventually becomes fraught with peril.
BLOOD STRIPE explores a character that is relatively new to both U.S. policy and to movies – a fully-combat-participatory female soldier. Co-filmmakers Remy Auberjonois and Kate Nowlin (the pair co-wrote the film, while Auberjonois directed and Nowlin stars) deftly feminize the warrior archetype while building the story to an emotional crescendo, reminding us of how little we understand post-traumatic stress beyond its definition. It is both an unusual and universal portrait of trauma and war’s cost to the individual and society.
Winner of the U.S. Fiction Prize at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival, “Blood Stripe” opens in New York on September 29th and Los Angeles on October 13th.