The GI Film Festival will be held in Washington, DC next week, providing a venue for new war films. The festival focuses especially on films presenting American soldiers’ perspectives on current and past wars. Many of the films shown are independent films, including short films and documentaries.
The film festival’s directors are Brandon L. Millett and Army Reserve Maj. Laura Law-Millett, his wife. According to the Washington Post: “We just had seen some films coming out that weren’t necessarily portraying GIs in the most favorable light,” Millett recalls. “We wanted to do something to address the situation. And we said, ‘We love movies, why not host a film festival?’ So that’s what we did.”
Historians and film scholars will question the choice of focusing so heavily on American perspectives on war, when multiple perspectives are crucial to understanding the complex experiences of warfare.
The Washington Post reports on the GI Film Festival.
NIU students in HIST 390 History and Film: War in Film will be interested in this article.
Brian Sandberg: Historical Perspectives 