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New film focuses on the stories of soldiers in combat. |
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May 19, 2014 () - The Denver Film Society will host writer and filmmaker Sebastian Junger to a preview screening of his new war documentary, KORENGAL. This public event will be on June 11 at 7pm at the Sie FilmCenter (2510 E. Colfax). The event is free and open to the public but will serve as a fundraiser for VFW Post #1, the First in the world. Suggested donation of $10, or $5 for student vets and DFS members. Denver is one of only six cities in the United States chosen by the director for a preview and visit.
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KORENGAL follows Junger’s Oscar-nominated film, Restrepo, which he made with the late Tim Hetherington. This feature length documentary follows a platoon of men as they fight in Afghanistan’s famed , often called, “the valley of death.” KORENGAL takes a less kinetic, and more visceral look at war, and listens to the thoughts of the men who fight it. The film captures the confusion of war, and the courage and strength of the men, who, like all troops find themselves facing overwhelming danger. The emotions are often conflicting: as one soldier mourns the loss of a friend in combat, another doesn’t hesitate to say he would go back to the front in a minute. While the firefights are fierce, there are long periods of waiting for the uncertain. KORENGAL captures the soldier’s thoughts on service, war, combat, and brotherhood. KORENGAL is what war feels like. The film was shot by Junger and Hetherington on location in the Korengal Valley. Additional footage was filmed in Vincenza at the unit base of the 2-503, Battle Company, of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
“Tim and I had always envisioned this film project to unfold in two parts. The world has seen the first part of this work, RESTREPO. But when Tim was tragically killed while covering the civil war in Libya three years ago, I was left on my own to finish the project. I re-enlisted the other two members of our RESTREPO team and we went back to work. The result, KORENGAL – which together with RESTREPO completes our vision – is exactly what Tim and I had discussed years earlier,” said filmmaker Sebastian Junger.
“As with RESTREPO,” Junger added, “we paid for the entire production ourselves, which gave us complete control of what the film would be. RESTREPO was intended to be a way for civilians to experience what combat feels like. We wanted KORENGAL to be very different. This film strives to impart understanding of the inner psychology of the soldier, rather than being intentionally experiential. How does fear work? What do courage and guilt mean? What is it like to come home from war? Why do so many soldiers miss being at war once they’re home?”
The film debuted at the Little Rock Film Festival, and will premiere in NYC on May 30. A national roll out has been planned for late June through early August.
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Denver Film Society
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Founded in 1978, the Denver Film Society (DFS) is a membership-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural institution that produces film events throughout the year, including the award-winning Starz Denver Film Festival and the popular, summertime series Film on the Rocks. With a vision to cultivate community and transform lives through film, the Film Society provides opportunities for diverse audiences to discover film through creative, thought-provoking experiences.
The permanent home of the Denver Film Society, the Sie FilmCenter, is Denver’s only year-round cinematheque, presenting a weekly-changing calendar of first-run exclusives and arthouse revivals both domestic and foreign, narrative and documentary – over 600 per year, all shown in their original language and format. DFS’s one-of-a-kind programs annually reach more than 200,000 film lovers and film lovers-in-training.
