A runaway nun seeking enlightenment and a highway robber descending into madness, are destined to meet in the otherworldly Yorkshire Moors.
O River is a dream-like Western about the duality of life and the psyche. The film examines our relationships with ourselves, with others and with nature. Engaging themes of will, transgression, exile and transcendence.
It asks: What is our capacity to choose? To what extent are we entangled in patterns of behaviour and history?
Ira, a runaway nun, and Bael, a highwayman, share a karmic bond — a relationship spanning multiple timelines, bound to the same end. Ira seeks transcendence and Bael spirals into chaos. Their psychodrama is shaped by supernatural forces as they are pulled toward each other. They are multivalent: representing relationships, two aspects of the same mind, philosophical choices, and nature’s cycle of renewal and decay.
Years and years alike
up here
these entangled stems
dip their ears into the water
again, are born again.
The idea for O River germinated in 2020, amid a season of instability and flux. Ash, my co-writer, and I, took long walks to process uncertainty, exploring the isolated Yorkshire countryside. This landscape placed us in a long view of time, contemplating destiny, determinism, and cosmology.
We shaped this allegoric story on these walks together, a cat-and-mouse Western with archetypal figures. Light and darkness. Their journey reflected our own questions about direction, choice, and the cycles we are bound to.
We hope O River invites viewers to pause with their own restlessness, enjoy the subtle details of the landscape, and to see their existence as part of a larger, endlessly mysterious cycle.
Written by Eloise Oui & A. Kent
Directed & Edited by Eloise Oui
Produced by A. Kent
Cinematography by Jess Dadds
Sound by Rob Wingfield
Sound Design by Joseph Russell
Musical Composition by Mafu
