Arch Larkin, a transient worker, enters a small town café and discovers no one is there. He decides to stay and soon after, Hazel Niedecker, its energetic proprietor, enters and sparks a conversation. She clearly wants him to stay and he enjoys the company. What they choose to reveal begins a dance of hiding in plain sight while desperately wanting to be seen. After receiving a phone call that brings her back to reality and the present moment, Hazel reveals a personal tragedy.
Arch’s warm attempts to console lead to an unusual request from Hazel who is fumbling through deep grief. A confounded Arch wrestles with this question and considers it carefully while Hazel surrounds herself with the love of family and friends. In Fountain Creek explores what happens when people in transition share that unique space between themselves and each other.
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In Fountain Creek is a new short film currently being developed by Nebraska-native filmmakers with a planned production schedule to film on location in Nebraska in the Spring of 2016.
Since I can recall, my creative outlets have centered around the thrill of creating unique worlds. Worlds so architected and immersive that truth and honesty have nowhere to hide consume my attention and thrill me.
Over the years, my projects has evolved from cities of Lego to paintings, to websites and film. The most evocative and complicated of channels, film provides the most opportunity for the exploration and investigation of truth. How does Arch react to Hazel’s bizarre request? Does he take a step back and slip his hands into his pockets? Where his hand finds his keys and he grips tight the familiar keychain once given to him by the only person in the world he at one point trusted? In film, there is so much to say and in In Fountain Creek there are so many nooks and crannies of Hazel’s diner to tell it from.
The world I am creating with In Fountain Creek is a densely decorated and dust laden museum of artifacts from two sprawling lives: Hazel and her husband. Within it, Hazel and Arch explore the nuances of one another’s personalities, continually revealing snippets of their personal truth to one another. As an artist and storyteller, I’m excited to plunge myself and the audience into the details of the tapestry of this town, this diner and these two lives. Inspired by Vivian Maier’s thoughtful and intimate street photography, every shot will be crammed with detail and nuanced visuals. The world drenched in soft backlight, the camera intimately examines the exchange of dialogue and the intensity of the space, placing the viewer in the claustrophobic world the characters inhabit.
From my experience as a lifelong Nebraskan, I know these characters and the world they inhabit – it is my intention to transfer that understanding and familiarity to the audience. We will know these characters because we will be able to smell them.
Penned by my dear friend Tessa Wedberg from a story she, Jonathan Purcell and I conceived, this is a script I cannot wait to translate to the screen.
-Jonathan Tvrdik