Hold Her Hand
A feature length drama written by Jessica Cadden Osborne
A troubled American soldier meets a fiery Irish bartender one fateful night in 2006, altering the trajectory of both their lives. There's a spark that neither can deny, but they both face the challenge of processing their pasts in order to show up vulnerably and courageously for one another.
Jack, who's on leave during his time serving in the Iraq War, walks into a bar in Sligo, Ireland with a bachelor party full of lifelong friends. He sees Evelyn slinging drinks. She's fire on the inside but cool as a cucumber externally. Why is he so drawn to her? And she to him? It could be that she's clever enough to make his whole crew shoot the pub's most dangerous whisky. It could be his mysterious allure. Or- it could be that they really see one another. Evelyn is no stranger to darkness. Like Jack, who's struggling from PTSD and childhood trauma, Evelyn knows about tragedy. Though she masks her pain with a cool exterior and a lot of dry humor, she's also gone through adverse childhood experiences that hold her back in her adult life.
There's an electric attraction between these two characters, but they've got to claim and process the hurt of their younger selves before they can begin to evolve both as individuals, and in love. In a powerful and beautiful way, they are accompanied by their inner children of the past throughout the film. What they come to realize is that there's no moving forward- either alone or with one another, until they allow these younger parts of themselves the space to be present, and to heal.
In each of us there is shadow and there is light. We all have secrets, traumas and difficult events that we've been through, and we each have the capacity to heal through love. Our film will oscillate between these themes through noir flashbacks and dimly lit rooms, to bright, sun-drenched greenery.
