Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Hygienic Art, Inc., the non-profit arts organization that is sponsoring THE EAGLE CRIED will be screening a work-in-progress version of the documentary at their annual art show in New London, CT at the end of January 2004.
In early September 2002 the Hygienic screened a 30-minute work-in-progress to a packed house of about 50 people in the downstairs gallery. At that time, the film only included several interviews with Bob Dumas who tells of his 50-year search for Roger. Accompanying his story are many photos and documents that illustrate his experience and support his point of view.
A Q&A session was planned following the screening. I was very curious to see how much of the audience would sit through the film as I felt is was rather dry in this rough state. With just one person telling the story on screen augmented by my “temp” narration in all its bland glory I knew the audience would not remain in the gallery for the film’s entertainment value.
After the last frames of the projected image rolled off the 6-foot screen I was introduced for the Q&A. I was happy to see everyone stayed and could see that most people looked genuinely moved by the story. It’s hard not to be affected by someone as charismatic as Bob Dumas with a singular, 50-year mission to find his brother abandoned in N. Korea. The audience had no problem respecting and sympathizing with someone who dropped out of high school to enlist in the Army and then volunteered for the Korean War so he could search for his missing brother and then ultimately sued the Secretary of the Army in Federal Court in order to convince the military bureaucracy that his brother was in fact a POW,
When the enthusiastic Q&A finished about two hours later I finally felt confident that this was a story that could find a mass audience. Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t give audiences much credit. When I did show this rough-cut to a documentary distributor a few weeks later they felf that although the story was intriguing, it would be a very difficult sell in this climate of “entertaining” documents that generally deal with very current issues – usually “urban” issues.
The distributor speculated that the History Channel would be a possibility. I pointed out that any POWs that might still be alive in N. Korea would not benefit much from being pushed into the past. If anything this story is one that requires urgent attention since these POWs would now be in their early 70s and time was quickly running out.
Although I initially intended for this documentary to be a human interest story about one man’s tireless search for his missing brother, it became something much, much bigger. A month before the Hygienic screening I accompanied my Uncle Bob at a Pentagon conference for families of Korean War POW/MIAs.
While I was in Washington DC I interviewed a former US Senate Chief of Staff and a Defense Intelligence analyst. Suddenly it wasn’t just my uncle screaming “government cover-up” it was a high-level government insider and a well-respected intelligence expert and author who were verifying what Bob had been saying for many years.
Exposing the staggering amount of documentation that indicates American POWs were abandoned and that there was and still are government efforts to keep this fact hidden from the public became the new driving force of the documentary.
Had I known then what I’d be undertaking for the next two years I wonder if I would have continued. I do know that I’m now happy for my inability to see into the future.
In early September 2002 the Hygienic screened a 30-minute work-in-progress to a packed house of about 50 people in the downstairs gallery. At that time, the film only included several interviews with Bob Dumas who tells of his 50-year search for Roger. Accompanying his story are many photos and documents that illustrate his experience and support his point of view.
A Q&A session was planned following the screening. I was very curious to see how much of the audience would sit through the film as I felt is was rather dry in this rough state. With just one person telling the story on screen augmented by my “temp” narration in all its bland glory I knew the audience would not remain in the gallery for the film’s entertainment value.
After the last frames of the projected image rolled off the 6-foot screen I was introduced for the Q&A. I was happy to see everyone stayed and could see that most people looked genuinely moved by the story. It’s hard not to be affected by someone as charismatic as Bob Dumas with a singular, 50-year mission to find his brother abandoned in N. Korea. The audience had no problem respecting and sympathizing with someone who dropped out of high school to enlist in the Army and then volunteered for the Korean War so he could search for his missing brother and then ultimately sued the Secretary of the Army in Federal Court in order to convince the military bureaucracy that his brother was in fact a POW,
When the enthusiastic Q&A finished about two hours later I finally felt confident that this was a story that could find a mass audience. Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t give audiences much credit. When I did show this rough-cut to a documentary distributor a few weeks later they felf that although the story was intriguing, it would be a very difficult sell in this climate of “entertaining” documents that generally deal with very current issues – usually “urban” issues.
The distributor speculated that the History Channel would be a possibility. I pointed out that any POWs that might still be alive in N. Korea would not benefit much from being pushed into the past. If anything this story is one that requires urgent attention since these POWs would now be in their early 70s and time was quickly running out.
Although I initially intended for this documentary to be a human interest story about one man’s tireless search for his missing brother, it became something much, much bigger. A month before the Hygienic screening I accompanied my Uncle Bob at a Pentagon conference for families of Korean War POW/MIAs.
While I was in Washington DC I interviewed a former US Senate Chief of Staff and a Defense Intelligence analyst. Suddenly it wasn’t just my uncle screaming “government cover-up” it was a high-level government insider and a well-respected intelligence expert and author who were verifying what Bob had been saying for many years.
Exposing the staggering amount of documentation that indicates American POWs were abandoned and that there was and still are government efforts to keep this fact hidden from the public became the new driving force of the documentary.
Had I known then what I’d be undertaking for the next two years I wonder if I would have continued. I do know that I’m now happy for my inability to see into the future.
Sunday, December 07, 2003
I'm in Sarasota, Florida this weekend interviewing former U.S. Senator Bob Smith (R, NH). Sen. Smith was co-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs in 1992. John Kerry was the chairman and John McCain was also on the committee.
Sen. Smith was the strongest advocate of the POW/MIAs and their families and had a sincere desire to get to the truth of what happened to abandoned POWs from the Vietnam War, Korean War and Cold War. He was undercut by other members of the committee, especially John Kerry and John McCain, both of whom I held a high regard for before I began this project. There is a lenghty section of the documentary that focuses on the Senate committee hearings and addresses the sharp criticism it received from many promient POW/MIA advocates.
Hearing Sen. Smith's version of the events of the Select Committee was very enlightening. His interview corroborated what others had said and went into much greater detail and with a very high degree of credibility.
Sen. Smith was the last key player in this story that I hoped to interview. There are many others I would have liked to get in front of the camera but they are either unwilling to do an interview (many are in fear of losing their government jobs if they interview for this documentary) or their information isn't crucial.
This interview with Senator Smith will be incorporated into the 2 1/2 hour rough-cut of the documentary that I have edited. Within the next couple weeks, Jason Stelzel, a top documentary editor, will begin working on a "fine cut." This is the edit before the final edit. At that point we will work on attaching a distributor who will finance the remaining post production tasks.
Signing off from a very chilly night in southern Florida.
Sen. Smith was the strongest advocate of the POW/MIAs and their families and had a sincere desire to get to the truth of what happened to abandoned POWs from the Vietnam War, Korean War and Cold War. He was undercut by other members of the committee, especially John Kerry and John McCain, both of whom I held a high regard for before I began this project. There is a lenghty section of the documentary that focuses on the Senate committee hearings and addresses the sharp criticism it received from many promient POW/MIA advocates.
Hearing Sen. Smith's version of the events of the Select Committee was very enlightening. His interview corroborated what others had said and went into much greater detail and with a very high degree of credibility.
Sen. Smith was the last key player in this story that I hoped to interview. There are many others I would have liked to get in front of the camera but they are either unwilling to do an interview (many are in fear of losing their government jobs if they interview for this documentary) or their information isn't crucial.
This interview with Senator Smith will be incorporated into the 2 1/2 hour rough-cut of the documentary that I have edited. Within the next couple weeks, Jason Stelzel, a top documentary editor, will begin working on a "fine cut." This is the edit before the final edit. At that point we will work on attaching a distributor who will finance the remaining post production tasks.
Signing off from a very chilly night in southern Florida.
There is a 6 1/2 minute trailer of the documentary @ http://www.EagleCried.com. There is also detailed information about the film on the site.
The picture edit is in the final stages and then the process of sound editing, color correction, special effects, DVD mastering etc. will begin.
In the meantime, this week I am traveling to Sarasota, Florida to interview former Sen. Bob Smith. This is a key interview that we have been trying to obtain since the beginning of the project over two years ago. Sen. Smith was the co-chairman of the 1992 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs and the main advocate of of this issue on the committee. In fact, when the last witness panel was testifying on Korean War POWs abandoned in N. Korea after the war, Sen. Smith was the only Senator remaining on the dias. Senators McCain, Kerry, Lieberman, Dodd and all the others left the hearing room.
Three weeks ago I had the rare and welcomed opportunity to interview a North Korean defector who told me he saw several American POWs in a N. Korean labor camp in 1995. He is the only person to ever have escaped from this DPRK, coal mining gulag.
Because of these last minute interviews, and the sheer volume of work required to process over 60 hours of video footage, the completion date for the film is being pushed to late January.
The picture edit is in the final stages and then the process of sound editing, color correction, special effects, DVD mastering etc. will begin.
In the meantime, this week I am traveling to Sarasota, Florida to interview former Sen. Bob Smith. This is a key interview that we have been trying to obtain since the beginning of the project over two years ago. Sen. Smith was the co-chairman of the 1992 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs and the main advocate of of this issue on the committee. In fact, when the last witness panel was testifying on Korean War POWs abandoned in N. Korea after the war, Sen. Smith was the only Senator remaining on the dias. Senators McCain, Kerry, Lieberman, Dodd and all the others left the hearing room.
Three weeks ago I had the rare and welcomed opportunity to interview a North Korean defector who told me he saw several American POWs in a N. Korean labor camp in 1995. He is the only person to ever have escaped from this DPRK, coal mining gulag.
Because of these last minute interviews, and the sheer volume of work required to process over 60 hours of video footage, the completion date for the film is being pushed to late January.
The Eagle Cried is a documentary film about American POWs from the Korean War that were abandoned in N. Korea after the war. It examines evidence that some of these POWs were seen alive in N. Korea within the last several years and the possibility that some of these POWs may still be alive today.
