Aviyah Abrams
Screenwriter
As soon as she learned to read and write, Aviyah Abrams began composing short stories and poems, and completed two short novels before she finished elementary school. Already fascinated by the excesses and the unboundedness of the human soul, she created supernatural worlds and science fiction stories. She discovered the theories of Freud and Janov in her early teens, which led her to explore, through writing, the heart-wrenching beauty of life and all its escapes. The artist's mind has forged a pole between the horror and the sumptuousness of the human adventure, and she continues to explore these extremes through the richness of a language where humour is always ready to show its many faces.
In 2019, she began a bachelor's degree in literary studies at Laval University, Canada. In February 2021, she was awarded the Jean-Sebastien Pontbriand Scholarship for Excellence in Creative Writing for her poetry collection "Ton visage est une étoile". She has published in Le crachoir de Flaubert and in the first publication of Éditions Figures.
Gaslighting in the 21st Century won Shorescripts's Best Feature in November 2021 and got into the quarterfinals of WeScreenplay Feature Screenwriting Competition and Emerging Screenwriters Genre Competition in 2022. It was also part of the official selection of the Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards of 2022.
Screenplays
Gaslighting in the 21st Century
Dark comedy
Logline: A bisexual ‘poetess’ in her early thirties struggles with her identity and place in the world as she falls for a narcissistic lesbian influencer who doesn’t do monogamy.
Excerpt:
DISPLAY OF SOCIAL SKILLS AND FLUFFING (HOW HONESTY WILL ANNIHILATE YOUR SOCIAL LIFE)
INT. NIGHT - DIAMOND'S PLACE
DIAMOND
For dinner, we're having a few recipes Hope wanted to cook for us.
They're apparently from a French writer, a guy named George something.
George looks at Diamond.
GEORGE
Good man, for sure.
HOPE
Actually, good woman. George Sand was a nineteenth century French
female writer. She was baptized Aurore Dupin, but she used George
Sand as a pen name, and she wore men's clothing. Some of her
colleagues said that she didn't know if she were a woman or a man,
making her a precursor of modern non-binarism, if you ask me.
She looks around and sees no one is reacting.
HOPE (CONT'D)
Although admittedly, I need to read a bit more on the subject before I
give my final opinion on the matter.
Everyone looks at her, surprised and bored.
CHAD
Great way to start a party, dude.
JERRY
So, we're eating French cuisine?
DIAMOND
Yes! Here's a soufflé, as a starter.
Diamond serves everybody portions of the soufflé. They look at the food. John starts eating right away. Guy seems disgusted by the smell, and pushes his plate away.
JOHN
(thinking out loud)
Sometimes I think I've made a mistake, buying a bar.
GUY
Your bar sucks, John!
JOHN
Yeah yeah yeah. Seriously, I don't understand where all the gays are
going. Maybe we don't offer enough entertainment?
CHAD
Put Hope on stage!
Hope seems embarrassed, but wants to chime in.
HOPE
You had ONE good idea, with the drag kings and queens at
Valentine’s night. Why don’t you have a drag king night every week?
Be innovative! Drag kings are largely underrepresented and almost
absent from the LGBT nightlife in this city. It will attract people, I’m sure.
JOHN
(Was looking at Louise the whole time, and didn’t pay attention to one word Hope said)
I'm thinking I might go back to being a lawyer.
LOUISE
I didn't know you were once a lawful man.
John leans toward her and tells her something in the ear. She seems turned on, and smiles.
GEORGE
Don't lawyers make more money than crummy bar owners?
HOPE
Weren't you disbarred?
CHAD (TO HOPE)
Way to hit a man when he's down!
(to John)
John, you were disbarred?
JERRY
What did you do?
GUY
Did you murder someone?
LOUISE
Was it on T.V.?
Louise takes her phone out and starts researching.
JOHN
(not paying attention to the comments. To Hope)
How did you? Who are you?
(pause)
It's none of anyone's business.
SUSAN
Well no scandal in my line of work!
DIAMOND
What do you do?
SUSAN
I'm a secular missionary. I just came back last week from Northern Canada.
Sleep.
Psychological Thriller
Logline: A young child with supernatural powers gets tortured in her sleep, night after night, by her tyrannical captor.
Ghosting, or a Little Guide to Millennial Relationships
Romantic comedy
Logline: A middle-aged bisexual actress's world is turned upside-down as she falls under the charm of an older theatre director who has strings.
Seven States of Drunkenness
Historical musical drama
Logline: In the late eighteen hundreds, a French female composer struggles with fame, love, and the loss of her four illegitimate children.
Poetry
Songs for Nestling Bodies
Excerpts
The ever-ending of times
The churning of ashes
The renewal's immediacy
The casualness of it all
All things considered
We're in a tiny drawer
Coalesced
Outside of us
Strands of existence
We sort ourselves
And we refine ourselves
In a beautiful round
In a transparent mould
In an elastic drawer
And we sing
***
Fade in
You're marking the passing of time
Your words, like a gale-ridden coat
Dying in the afternoon
Vowels fall from your pockets
Heavy fingers
Fade in
You may wear my soul
In the silence
Dripping from your nails
Fade in
The earth's long-lost voice
Echoing around your finger
You're marking time
Living in the afternoon
Fading in
***
Sleep
Into the mouth of a raging clock
Upon an empty song of love
Within your name, a mystery
Amongst the grumbling steps of your heart
Sleep
For no one
Has slept here before
For the bell ringing through time
In the afternoon of life
Sleep for the poor
Sleep for the young
Upon the endless rose of yore
Perched on the shoulders of a star
-Pointedly-
Sleep for the merry
Sleep for the strong
Well before your naked song
Sleep
***
Eternal silence of infinite spaces
I will go to you
Under the light of a forgotten moon
Through the spruces
By the river
Where shivery farewells
Await us
From afar
The grieving of the golden wind
The night singing fire
Fill my heart
I will not be frightened
As I enter into you
O delicate silence