On April 19th at 2:00pm, the LA 3-D Club will present a special screening of SOLDIER’S STORIES 3-D at the Downtown Independent theater.
The film recounts how the Battle of the Somme became the first industrial-scale battle in history: one which witnessed the first massive bombardment, first use of the tank, first use of the flame thrower, and the first time the tools of modern warfare were unleashed on a grand scale. This industrialization of war led not only to massive casualties but also to the larger, less understood and longer-term issues of physical and psychological trauma. The film is about more than a battle, it is an exploration of how the use of technology in war is created following effects that moved well beyond the battlefield.
To give context to this almost unimaginably vast conflict. interviews are being conducted with present day veterans from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and Germany so that living veterans can speak to the same issues as soldiers in the past. Veterans speak about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) which was knows as “shell shock” almost 100 years earlier, post traumatic stress disorder which was often called “war nerves” and not at all well understood then, and the general day to day of what a soldier is really about.
The War of Wars is neither about the politics or strategy of World War I or that of present day conflicts. It is an exploration of the soldiers’ daily life, weaving the stories of WWI into the accounts of the present day. Within the film are more than 200 original 3-D battlefield photos selected from private collections and long abandoned negatives that were taken from all sides –English, German, French– during the actual Battle of Somme in 1916 and which make witness to a very personal side of the war that has not been seen for nearly 100 years. For more information, visit soldiersstoriesmovie.com
Immediately following the screening, there will be a Q&A and discussion at the theater with the film’s writer/director, Jonathan Kitzen.
SOLDIER’S STORIES 3-D
$5 at the door for current LA3DClub members
$10 at the door for non-members (admission is waived with USC Student ID)
April 19th, 2015, 2:00pm
Downtown Independent Theater
251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Note: Paid parking is available at many parking lots in the adjacent area and street parking is free on Sundays. The theater is also only several blocks from the MTA Red Line.