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GI Film Festival San Diego 2018

We Are Not Done Yet

Directed by Sareen Hairabedian

Arts, Healing, Women Filmmaker, Post 9/11 / USA / 2018 / documentary / 40 mins / English / World Premiere

Plays In:
Film Block: Life After Service

UltraStar Cinemas at Hazard Center
September 29, 2018 1:00 pm

Description

Ten U.S. veterans of varied backgrounds come together at a poetry workshop to combat their traumatic military pasts through the art of written word. Grappling with PTSD, the “warrior poets” share fears, vulnerabilities, and victories that eventually culminate into a live performance at Washington D.C.’s Lansburgh Theatre. Under the direction of actor Jeffrey Wright, the warrior poets take their stories to an audience of five hundred civilians, family members and fellow warriors to tell too often hidden truths about the consequences of intimacy with war and death. The documentary weaves in and out of the lives of the veterans exposing the human stories behind their poems and their turbulent acclimation back to civilian life. At times emotional and almost always vulnerable, the veterans create, practice, and rehearse their collaborative poem while simultaneously building a new-found “tribe” in each other.

 

Director Sareen Hairabedian and Producer Jeffrey Wright (HBO’s “Westworld”) are scheduled to attend.

 

GI Film Festival San Diego Award
Best Documentary Short


Director's Bio

Sareen Hairabedian is an Armenian-Jordanian filmmaker currently living in New York City. She grew up in a home filled with film, dance, and music which enriched her cultural experience and shaped her voice as a creator of human-driven documentaries. Her eagerness to tell socially conscious stories led to the foundation of HAI Creative, a media production company that collaborates with organizations such as UN Women, USAID, and others to help bring stories of the unheard and underrepresented to screen. Sareen is currently developing her next documentary in her native homeland, tackling issues of identity, resilience and connection to land. “We Are Not Done Yet” is her directorial debut.



Precedes

  1. The Weight of Honor

    Stephanie Seldin Howard / Families in Service, Healing, Women Filmmaker, Post 9/11 / USA / 2017 / documentary / 56 mins
    Six women meet the challenges of caring for their veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, revealing their personal, emotional, and physical struggles while demonstrating strength and resiliency when their worlds are turned upside down.

    Preceded by: We Are Not Done Yet



Plays in

  1. Film Block: Life After Service

    Arts, Families in Service, Healing, Post 9/11
    This film pairing features stories post-service journey of healing and recovery. This film block includes "We Are Not Done Yet" and "The Weight of Honor".

    In This Program: We Are Not Done Yet, The Weight of Honor



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Dates & Times

Plays In:
Film Block: Life After Service

UltraStar Cinemas at Hazard Center
September 29, 2018 1:00 pm