Help Us Launch this Film

We are asking for help in making this important, non-partisan and very timely documentary film a reality. Here is our plan:

Timetable: Shooting for the film was complete in May, 2008. Editing of a fifteen minute trailer is complete and is available for viewing (please see home page). Editing of the feature length film will begin in October, and should be completed by January, 2010. At that point we will enter it in appropriate festivals, including Sundance, San Francisco International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Tribeca, and others. We will also seek national television distribution.

The completed film will also be distributed nationally to local church leaders, vet centers and hospitals, civic organizations, libraries, Colleges and Universities, etc. Our ultimate goal is to have the film used in thousands of local communities to initiate conversations between veterans of all wars and members of the public, and to inspire local creation of significant welcoming ceremonies of their own. This is already happening in Ashland, OR, where the Welcome Home Project took place, and in Portland, OR, where Michael Meade led a second retreat. The Veterans Administration certainly needs to do its part, but without this direct involvement of the civilian public many veterans will continue to carry the burdens of their war alone and our entire culture loses both their sensitivity and their wisdom.

What we need: Allies

1.  OEF/OIF or other veterans of recent combat zones interested in helping connect us and the film to veterans and veteran's organizations around the country.  This will provide important networking, outreach and community building possibilities.

2. Older veterans who would take point in helping us make connections with the national veteran community. We need men and women who have the skills and the history of making businesses or programs work and who would be willing to offer that expertise to us and other veterans by involvement with promotion of the film.

3. Individual civilians and business leaders, moved by what we are doing here, willing to host viewings of the fund raising trailer. Please contact us for more details.

4. We need donations. Donations can be large or small, and in the end we need about $135,000 more to complete the film in the timeframe described above. Please visit the donation page to make your donation.

With nearly two million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the hundreds of thousands from earlier wars, the time is right for a much wider awareness and participation in this issue. Voices of Vets offers a way to be involved and the effect could be immense.