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

Fri Sep 8 12:06:53 CDT 2006

The website for the film has A LOT of information, so you can look at clips
there to get a better sense of the film.

http://thegroundtruth.net/

Let me know if you have any questions.

Jen

On 9/8/06 10:44 AM, "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel4 at insightbb.com> wrote:

> It appears to me that we should sign on as a sponsor to this film. However, it
> is not always prudent to sponsor a film we haven't seen. --mkb
> 
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Jen Tayabji <tayabji at shout.net>
>> Date: September 7, 2006 10:51:36 PM CDT
>> To: <Peace-discuss at lists.cu.groogroo.com>
>> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Co-sponsorship Request for "The Ground Truth" Public
>> Screening
>> 
>> 
>> 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
>> <http://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
>> <http://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
>> 
>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>> 
> 
> 
> 
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jen Tayabji, Executive Director and Campus Minister
Illinois Disciples Foundation (IDF)
W: (217) 352-8721 | C: (217) 840-8248
http://www.prairienet.org/idf

"Our lives being to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

³One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be
compromised.²

"You can only know and think about it by actually doing it. It is no use
asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn
the truth."