The Drowned Girl: A New Film

Watch the trailer and discover more!

It has been more than two years in production – and much more in the writing – but I can finally say it: Our film, The Drowned Girl, is finished and ready for its audience.

The Drowned Girl is a tale of complicity – and why it is such an essential element in how evil takes root in the world and spreads into the fiber of our society. Set largely in Nazi film industry of the 1930s and 1940s, it is also a tale of how art can be perverted and deployed in the service of genocide and destruction. 

In a moment when a new wave of fascism seeks to rewrite or erase history, The Drowned Girl seeks to pull into audience into reflecting on how individual choices we make to resist what we know to be wrong – or acquiesce in seemingly unimportant ways – allow evil to hold sway over human lives and history. 

You can see the trailer now:

You can also find out more about the film and meet the creative team here:

https://www.richardbyrneplays.com/the-drowned-girl

My gratitude to the folks who made this film possible is deep and enduring. Annalisa Loeffler took on the title role with intensity and skill. (Paula D’Alessandris of Mind the Gap Theatre was our performance director.)

Andrew Bellware directed the film and composed its evocative score. His instincts and gambits advanced the project in so many ways.

And producer Laura Schlachtmeyer? You would not be seeing the film but without her determination to make it a reality – even in the heart of the pandemic. We shot in various locations and kept ourselves safe and creative in doing so through the latter months of 2021.

A final note (because the film’s the thing): Legendary British playwright Doug Lucie read a draft of The Drowned Girl not long after it was finished. The generous attention that he lavished on the piece convinced me that I was on to something useful. I am in his debt for believing in this project so early on.

Stay tuned for screenings soon in New York City and Washington, DC – and then hopefully on to some film festivals!