One of the highlights of Vietnam Veterans of America’s last National Leadership Conference, in July 2008 in Greenville, South Carolina, was the screening of the stirring documentary The Way We Get By presented by the filmmakers, Gita Pullapilly and Aron Gaudet.
The film, which will have its national broadcast premier on Wednesday, November 11 (Veterans Day) at 9:00 p.m. on PBS’s always-excellent documentary series POV, looks at three people in Bangor, Maine, (Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet, and Jerry Mundy, below) who greet American troops flying to and from Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Since its showing in Greenville the film has received rave reviews and won many film festival awards. You can see a streaming video trailer, an interview with the filmmakers, as well as a list of related websites, organizations and books, lesson plans, and discussion guides at http://www.pbs.org/pov/waywegetby/ and www.pbs.org/pov
The Way We Get By will be available for sale on DVD at www.thewaywegetbymovie.com beginning Nov. 3. The price is $19.99.
Posted on October 29th 2009 in Documentaries, On TV
When the prime-time Emmy award nominations were announced this morning, HBO led the league, with 99. No. 2 NBC had 67. Among the 99 are ten nominations for the sterling original film, Taking Chance, which VVA will screen twice at the 14th National Convention in Louisville.
The nominations include Outstanding Made for Television Movie; Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini Series or a Movie (Kevin Bacon as Mike Strobl); Outstanding Directing (Ross Katz); and Outstanding Writing (Strobl and Katz). The Emmys will air September 20 on CBS from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
Mike Strobl will be honored by VVA with the President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Convention’s Saturday night banquet. Strobl, HBO CEO Bill Nelson (a VVA member) and John Phelps (Chance Phelps’ father) will be on hand for the Saturday afternoon screeningin Louisville.
Posted on July 16th 2009 in Feature Films, On TV
For the 20th consecutive year PBS will broadcast the National Memorial Day Concert live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The show will air on Sunday, May 24, from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The program will be co-hosted for the fourth year by the actors Gary Sinise (Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump) and Joe Mantegna, both of whom have long supported veterans’ causes as well as our active-duty service personnel. They will be joined by the usual star-powered line-up, including Gen. Colin Powell, actress Dianne Wiest, country music singer Trace Adkins, Broadway stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Colm Wilkinson, and opera singer Denyce Graves, along with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Erich Kunzel.
The show will go on before a live concert audience of hundreds of thousands, as well as the millions watching at home, and troops serving around the world who will be able to hear and see it on American Forces Radio and Television Network.
Posted on April 9th 2009 in On TV