GI Film Festival in focus: Returning Home

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Staff

Editor’s note: Military Times will spotlight a group of GI Film Festival selections regularly in the run-up to the festival. 

The Category: Returning Home

The Films: “Comedy Bootcamp,” “The Ravens,” “Resurface” and “A War Within”

The Breakdown: From ticker-tape parades to surprises at ballparks to angry protesters, all generations have their own notion of a military homecoming. These four films go beyond the boilerplate, telling stories of service members and their families in search of life after uniform.

  • “Comedy Bootcamp” follows veterans (and one military spouse) who take to the stage with the help of professional stand-ups to share their stories.
  • “The Ravens” looks at the family stresses caused by a father’s unexpected return from war, seen through the eyes of his little girl and the birds she sees defending a nearby nest.
  • “Resurface” tracks an Iraq War veteran from the brink of suicide to a new journey on the waves via Operation Surf.
  • “A War Within” combs through medical records and multiple interviews to tell one veteran’s fight to keep from harming himself after coming home … and how systems designed to support service members missed critical warning signs.

The Trailers:

WHRO Public Media’s, Comedy Bootcamp: The Documentary, follows a group of military veterans as they embark on an eight-week comedy course in an attempt to ease their transition from active duty to civilians. With a concluding White House performance, the participants share their stories of resilience, hope and humor.
When young Ruby’s father returns unexpectedly from war, his volatile state makes it difficult for the family to reconnect. Ruby’s anxieties are projected onto a pair of ravens, vigilantly defending their nearby nest, who become a catalyst for the troubled family’s journey from crisis to healing.
After years of nightmares, depression, and seizures, Iraq war veteran Bobby Lane could see no way out of his trauma other than suicide. Then he met Van Curaza, a former big wave surfer who since founded Operation Surf and dedicated his life to helping veterans find solace in surfing.
This is the story of one combat veteran’s desperate fight against the self-destructive urges pulsing through a generation of men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Screenings: All four films will screen at the Navy Memorial Theater on Saturday, May 27, beginning at 3 p.m. Tickets are available here; full-festival passes are available here. 

The Rundown: For more on these films and others, visit the GI Film Festival’s official site.

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