200 films 3 days all in Fort Worth at the Norris Conference Center, which wasa great location.
Awesome job to Bill Hass and the board for the exceptional work this year. Selecting the films,bringing in filmmakers, organizing an event of this magnitude was refresingto see.
I Am Royalty Radio was in the building as the film showcase official media partners. Check out the interviews, videos and movie review.
Showcase and Movie review by Isaac McCoy - IARR Affiliate
At my first “INSERT NAME”, in its 5 th year, I was able to spend an afternoon experiencing artistic
creations of writers, directors, and actors expressed via motion picture.
There were over 200 films shown over the three-day festival and one block of short films stood out to
me. Each film was approximately 8 – 12 minutes long and depicted stories of the complex and unmet
needs of American Veterans and their friends and family. Each story touched on the issues too many of
our veterans and their loved ones struggle to confront and overcome - PTSD, grieving and coping with
the loss of a fallen soldier, and transition to civilian life. These films did not shy away from these issues
and it made the viewers, at least it did for me, ask oneself, what can I do to help.
As each film had a unique story arc, the film entitled, Brother, took a murder mystery approach to tell
the story of how loved ones deal with the loss of a fallen soldier. It began with an FBI investigation
centered around the murder of Iraqi citizens by an American battalion stationed in Iraq. These American
solders were accused of a “revenge murder” after a member of their battalion, their brother, was
murdered by an improvised explosive device (IED).
FBI agents enters the home of a member of that battalion to question him about the events that took
place in Iraq. As the soldier articulates the life of a soldier and the bonds of brotherhood, he finds ways
to insinuate one of the FBI agents, a non-military man, doesn’t have the experience to understand
where he is coming from, thus directing his responses to the second FBI agent, a woman war veteran. As
the soldier makes a case for the rules of justice can not be applied the same in all situations, the FBI
agents argue justice should be is equal and fair. At the end of this exchange, I am sure the audience
joined me in asking the question, is justice equal and fair?
The storyline resumes when the female FBI agent meets the soldier at a restaurant where their
conversation is acknowledged to be off-the-record. The first plot twist comes in as the FBI agent reveals
the American solder killed by the IED is her brother. This builds on the bond established in the first
scene, both are war veterans, allowing the soldier to open up about the motives and events resulting
from the death of his fellow soldier and her brother. This scene walks you through how ugly war can be
and the mindset of soldiers who experience war. As this scene fades, I began to wonder who I side with,
FBI agents or the soldier. I assume many of my fellow onlookers were grappling with the same dilemma.
The next scene opens with the female FBI agent laying in bed discussing the case with someone, a male
who is off scene. The male enters the scene, and to my surprise it is her partner. As I am trying to wrap
my head around this romantic relationship, the female agent picks up her phone and the screen has a
voice recording of her off-the-record conversation with the soldier. As her partner is convinced the
soldier is guilty of revenge murder, she is holding the phone, in moral conflict, deciding whether to press
play or delete. I already divulged enough of the short film so I won’t spoil the ending, but this film
masterfully took its viewers on a journey through the mindset of soldiers while in combat, to the often
difficult transition of reintegrating into civilian life while coping with he lost of a fallen soldier, in only a
matter of minutes.
The writer, director, and actors did a great job of character develop and getting a message across and I
