Lyvia's House: Love and Revenge Set in a Walnut Orchard
Acquisition Available for this Get-Out-Meets-Twin-Peaks Indie Thriller
Los Angeles, CA, April 03, 2023 --(PR.com)-- In March of 2020, when COVID hit and book marketing went solely online, author Patricia V. Davis decided to take a hiatus from promoting her latest novel to write a screenplay, her first, set in the northern California agricultural community of Nicolaus, California.
Called “River Oaks” in the film, Nicolaus is where her husband's family has owned and operated a rice farm since the 1800s. Davis fell in love with both the beauty of the area and the people who live there, and wanted the world to see it through her eyes, so she set her romantic psychological thriller Lyvia’s House there, and decided to produce it herself.
Loosely inspired by true-life murders that took place in the walnut and peach orchards of Sutter County, California, the film follows a young journalist who has recently transplanted with her new lover from a lavish milieu to the beautiful but bucolic home of a disappeared Italian artist named Lyvia.
It was during pre-production that something unexpected happened: Lyvia's House caught the interest not only of the tiny Nicolaus community, but the surrounding counties—Yuba, Sutter, Yolo, and Sacramento—who came together to help, lending the filmmakers everything from equipment to shooting locations to a single-engine airplane. The end result was that production value was raised exponentially from the five-figure budget fundraising had managed to acquire, to a film that presents its compelling tale in spectacular imagery.
How and why 'the neighbors' stepped in, is a story nearly as captivating as the movie itself, but the film features so many area businesses, cast, crew, and volunteers that it was awarded a grant from Yuba Sutter Arts and Culture (the local branch of the California Arts Council), and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lyvia’s House, directed by Niko Volonakis, with cinematography by Cody Martin, has garnered several festival awards thus far, including Honorable Distinction in Direction at Athens International Digital Film Festival and Best Female Scriptwriter at Toronto International Women Film Festival.
Positive reviews are coming in from test audiences and festival attendees alike, who are being kept on the edge of their seats by the slow-building, suspenseful arc of the beautiful young couple at the center of the tale, and the mystical elusiveness of the girl in the painting, Lyvia. The haunting score, the intriguing Easter eggs, the settings, the subtle social implications, all add layers to the narrative. In particular, Lyvia’s faux finish masks on the walls of her former home are an omen that folks in River Oaks are not what they appear in this gaslight-glimpse into the surreal:
"From the (opening) moment when the Medea quote appeared with such dark imagery and ominous music, a hypnotic sense of foreboding settled in. Dread is the best suspense, and that's how the journey began and never relented. I especially loved how this dark-growing-ever-darker (and deliciously twisted) story was played out against such beautiful, idyllic scenery..." - Mark B. Perry, screenwriter
Lyvia’s House will be screening for a limited engagement at the Oscar-qualifying Cinelounge Sunset in Hollywood, from April 21 through April 27, 2023, and the new San Francisco Bay Area Cinelounge from April 28 through April 30, 2023. Complimentary admission available for buyers/distributors at producer@lyviashouse.com.
For more about Lyvia, see her trailer, and social media on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and IMDb.
Called “River Oaks” in the film, Nicolaus is where her husband's family has owned and operated a rice farm since the 1800s. Davis fell in love with both the beauty of the area and the people who live there, and wanted the world to see it through her eyes, so she set her romantic psychological thriller Lyvia’s House there, and decided to produce it herself.
Loosely inspired by true-life murders that took place in the walnut and peach orchards of Sutter County, California, the film follows a young journalist who has recently transplanted with her new lover from a lavish milieu to the beautiful but bucolic home of a disappeared Italian artist named Lyvia.
It was during pre-production that something unexpected happened: Lyvia's House caught the interest not only of the tiny Nicolaus community, but the surrounding counties—Yuba, Sutter, Yolo, and Sacramento—who came together to help, lending the filmmakers everything from equipment to shooting locations to a single-engine airplane. The end result was that production value was raised exponentially from the five-figure budget fundraising had managed to acquire, to a film that presents its compelling tale in spectacular imagery.
How and why 'the neighbors' stepped in, is a story nearly as captivating as the movie itself, but the film features so many area businesses, cast, crew, and volunteers that it was awarded a grant from Yuba Sutter Arts and Culture (the local branch of the California Arts Council), and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lyvia’s House, directed by Niko Volonakis, with cinematography by Cody Martin, has garnered several festival awards thus far, including Honorable Distinction in Direction at Athens International Digital Film Festival and Best Female Scriptwriter at Toronto International Women Film Festival.
Positive reviews are coming in from test audiences and festival attendees alike, who are being kept on the edge of their seats by the slow-building, suspenseful arc of the beautiful young couple at the center of the tale, and the mystical elusiveness of the girl in the painting, Lyvia. The haunting score, the intriguing Easter eggs, the settings, the subtle social implications, all add layers to the narrative. In particular, Lyvia’s faux finish masks on the walls of her former home are an omen that folks in River Oaks are not what they appear in this gaslight-glimpse into the surreal:
"From the (opening) moment when the Medea quote appeared with such dark imagery and ominous music, a hypnotic sense of foreboding settled in. Dread is the best suspense, and that's how the journey began and never relented. I especially loved how this dark-growing-ever-darker (and deliciously twisted) story was played out against such beautiful, idyllic scenery..." - Mark B. Perry, screenwriter
Lyvia’s House will be screening for a limited engagement at the Oscar-qualifying Cinelounge Sunset in Hollywood, from April 21 through April 27, 2023, and the new San Francisco Bay Area Cinelounge from April 28 through April 30, 2023. Complimentary admission available for buyers/distributors at producer@lyviashouse.com.
For more about Lyvia, see her trailer, and social media on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and IMDb.
Contact
Graffi Media Inc.
Patricia V. Davis
415-302-4895
Patricia V. Davis
415-302-4895
Contact
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