The Woodsman is a fairytale based on the lived experience of abusive relationships, the invisible pull of underlying trauma, and the destructive patterns that drag us into individual and intergenerational cycles of abuse. 

Past trauma, historical abuse, personal vulnerability, dysfunctional relationships, enabling environments and systems interlock into a vortex that draws people in and keeps those targeted from escaping. 

In a haunted forest, all pathways lead to a house at the heart of the woods.  Whether awake or asleep, the all-consuming presence of the entity inside gradually draws each member of a family of women back on a course for destruction. 

The Woodsman explores how fear, manipulation, trauma bonds and our own psychological defence mechanisms conspire to keep us in the thrall of abusive people and systems that corrupt our natural instincts towards self-preservation until we are unable to care for ourselves and others. 

The script and scenes of The Woodsman are being co-created with survivors of trauma and abuse, and their words and their stories are going to guide the project every step of the way. As the project moves forward we will be putting out for casting and putting together an accompanying webpage with links to discuss the film and resources for survivors of physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual abuse and to support those currently in or at risk of abusive relationships.