Blood Stripe

Our Sergeant (Kate Nowlin) returns home to a small town after a third tour with the Marines in Afghanistan. Unable to sleep and wracked by anxiety, it is clear that in addition to the scars she bears on her torso, Our Sergeant carries unseen wounds. When a homecoming party provokes her into an explosive outburst, Our Sergeant has nowhere to turn, and so she runs…deep into the North Woods. Discovering a picturesque summer camp on the shores of a lake, Our Sergeant seeks refuge and solace. But she cannot outrun her own heart of darkness and the pristine wilderness 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.