Awol

joey (Lola Kirke) is an aimless high school graduate living in a economically depressed, rust-belt coal town in rural Pennsylvania. Seeking a way out of poverty and dead-end jobs, she decides to enlist in the U.S. Army.

However, her plans take a sharp detour when she meets Rayna (Breeda Wool), a charismatic, older housewife and mother neglected by her long-haul trucker husband. The two women fall into a passionate, secret affair. As Joey's shipping-out date approaches, her intense devotion to Rayna drives her to make increasingly risky, reckless decisions—ultimately threatening to derail her future entirely as she considers going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) for love.

💡 Did you know?
Sundance Short to Feature Adaptation: Director Deb Shoval first created AWOL as a short film in 2010, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before being expanded into this feature adaptation starring Lola Kirke and Breeda Wool (who reprised her role as Rayna from the original short).

Tribeca World Premiere: The feature film made its world premiere in competition at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, receiving strong critical praise for its unvarnished portrait of working-class queer lives.

Co-written with Karolina Waclawiak: The screenplay was co-written by acclaimed author Karolina Waclawiak (How to Get Into the Twin Palms), bringing a gritty, literary authenticity to the film's depiction of small-town economic entrapment.

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