[Peace-discuss] Co-sponsorship Request for "The Ground Truth" Public Screening

[Jen Tayabji]

Would AWARE be interested in cosponsoring?

Thanks,
Jen

------ Forwarded Message
From: "Aaron Patrick Smith" <redherng at shout.net>
Reply-To: redherng at shout.net
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 17:00:22 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Co-sponsorship Request for "The Ground Truth" Public Screening

Dear Organizational Representative:

My name is Aaron Smith, I am the Assistant Director of the Illinois
Disciples Foundation and a co-coordinator of the Progressive
Resource/Action Cooperative (PRC). The PRC (www.prairienet.org/prc) is a
multi-issue, multi-tactical activist organization with the mission of
working for peace and social justice. It consists of students and
community members working in the community to promote human rights,
democracy and self-determination for all people. PRC is a program of the
Illinois Disciples Foundation (www.prairienet.org/idf), and a registered
student organization (RSO) at the University of Illinois.

I am writing to ask that your organization agree to co-sponsor an upcoming
public screening of the new documentary "The Ground Truth" that the PRC is
planning to hold at the IDF on Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 at 7pm. "The
Ground Truth" is a powerful film that documents the experiences of
veterans who have served in the war in Iraq and the effects that service
has had on their lives. It stunned audiences at the 2006 Sundance film
festival, and this will be it's first public showing in Champaign-Urbana.
PRC is organizing this showing in conjunction with other public showings
aroung the U.S. on October 11th, to mark the 4th anniversary of the
Congressional authorization of "Use of Force Against Iraq". For more
information about the film, check out http://www.thegroundtruth.net or
look at the synopsis at the end of this e-mail. This screening will be
free and open to the public.

Agreeing to co-sponsor entails letting us use your organization’s name on
all our publicity as a co-sponsor.  Also, we would ask that you help us
publicize the event by announcing it to your membership/e-mail lists,
encouraging your members to attend the event, and possibly putting up some
of our flyers. Monetary donations to help us defray the costs of putting
on the showing will be appreciated, but are not required.

If your organization would like to co-sponsor, please reply to me by the
deadline of Friday, September 15, 2006 at 5pm.  Feel free to contact me
with any questions regarding the event or about co-sponsorship.  I can
also be reached by phone at the IDF at 352-8721.  Thank you very much for
your support, and we hope to hear from you.

In Solidarity,
Aaron P. Smith
IDF Assistant Director
PRC Co-Coordinator


*******************************
The Ground Truth Documentary

Synopsis:

THE GROUND TRUTH stunned filmgoers at the 2006 Sundance and Nantucket Film
Festivals. Hailed as "powerful" and "quietly unflinching," Patricia
Foulkrod's searing documentary feature includes exclusive footage that
will stir audiences. The filmmaker's subjects are patriotic young
Americans - ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military
service in Iraq - as they experience recruitment and training, combat,
homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities.
The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty in the film
- is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the
soldiers returning home - with personal demons, an uncomprehending public,
and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier
becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other
veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all
- the truth. Features interviews with Charlie Anderson, Kelly Dougherty,
Paul Reichoff, and other veterans.

Director’s Statement (Patricia Foulkrod):

This film is not about the right or the left, or about blue or red states.
It is about the hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers who have been
released by the military after serving in Iraq - and the truth they hope
to share with their fellow citizens.

I produced and directed THE GROUND TRUTH because I felt it was time to
stop hiding behind the politics. No one was writing or talking about
thousands of invisible injured soldiers, for the most part young men
returning to young wives who must now be their caregivers.

It became clear, while filming, that the broken hearts and shattered lives
that I was seeing were profound and pervasive - whether the soldiers and
their families were for or against the Iraq War.

I wanted to show how insidious and deep the effects of killing in combat
truly are - whether in self-defense or not - so we could create a national
dialogue about our "consciousness of killing." I also felt I had to
capture the aloneness and despair many returning soldiers silently
experience when their psychological and physical needs are not recognized
or provided for.

Those needs for soldiers have not changed since Harold Russell and The
Best Years of Our Lives. It is sixty years later, and we need to recognize
not only that the U.S. is in very different war circumstances but also
that our fighting men - and, now, women - face tremendous challenges back
home.

So I tried to create a film that might blow the yellow ribbons off the
trees, and encourage people to really wrap their arms around our soldiers
and their families. I wanted us to sit with the broken hearts and troubled
minds of these young veterans, so we can take responsibility for their
suffering that is being experienced in our name.

And most important, I wanted to share with all Americans the profound
wisdom these young men and women have to impart. Their first step to
healing is our listening.

Ground Truth Gatherings:

Community showings of the documentary on Wednesday, October 11th—the
fourth anniversary of the Congressional authorization of “Use of Force
Against Iraq.”

http://www.thegroundtruth.net

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