Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival 2023 – Writer/director Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair’s Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You does more in 20 minutes than some full-length films. It’s an eerie and moving story about loss and grief, a chilling ghost tale with serious emotional heft.

The Irish film opens as Freya (Stephanie Dufresne) gives a brief monologue about spirits that she believes inhabit the house she shares with her lover, Margaret (Marie Ruane), a music composer. According to Freya, the spooks are so powerful that they can peel away your skin. Her words make for a hair-raising opening, and shortly after her monologue, Margaret finds her dead in the home. The cause of her death isn’t exactly clear, and the audience can draw their own conclusions. Did she commit suicide? Did she have an accident? It’s ambiguous, which makes it all the stranger.

The rest of the film focuses on Margaret’s emotional spiral, and here, Ruane gives a compelling performance, conveying her character’s distress and longing to speak with the departed. Following Freya’s death, Margaret composes a discordant musical suite that she’s certain will open other doorways that allow her to communicate with her deceased lover. Meanwhile, she’s convinced that Freya may have returned as a ghost dressed in red, haunting the home. The film’s sound design deserves a lot of accolades, not only due to the music, but also the creaks and bumps within the house. At times, this very much feels like a 19th Century Gothic tale in all the best ways.

The short has another layer because Margaret cheated on Freya with one of the musicians, Louise (Juliette Crosbie). Not only is she haunted by her dead lover, but also the possibility that before she died, Freya may have known about the affair. The short incorporates a few flashbacks that fill in the relationship between Louise and Margaret, while leaving it to the audience to decide whether or not Freya knew about what transpired in the old, creaky house. This home certainly harbors major secrets.

While Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You may be a ghost story, it’s so much more than that. This short is a moving experience about a woman’s desperation to speak to her deceased lover one last time. There’s much potential here for a feature-length film. These 20 minutes are atmospheric and moody with a powerful emotional core.

8 Out of 10