Emotional documentary 'Honor Flight' thanks WWII veterans for their service

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  Veterans are shown in a scene from "Honor Flight."Honor Flight

It has almost been seventy years since the end of World War II, but at least according to the upcoming documentary “Honor Flight,” it’s never too late to say thank you.

Directed by Dan Hayes, the poignant film chronicles a Midwest community racing against the clock to fly thousands of veterans to Washington, DC to see the memorial constructed for them in 2004, decades after their epic battle. In particular, “Honor Flight” highlights four former servicemen: Stars and Stripes Honor Flight Ambassador Joe Demler, Orville Lemke who fights to hold off terminal cancer to make the trip, 89-year-old poet Julian Plaster and Harvey Kurtz, who saw the iconic flag go up at Iwo Jima.

“It was important to make this film to educate Americans on the amazing lives of the greatest generation and create awareness for the efforts of the Honor Flight Network non-profit, which flies veterans to see the memorial built in their honor,” director Hayes told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “These ‘Honor Flights’ are often the first time they’ve been thanked and the last trip of their lives. The 24-hour journey is full of surprises that deeply move all who are involved.”

And for veteran Demler, it was one of the best – albeit emotional – days of his life.

“It did bring back a lot of memories, but sharing our experiences with our fellow veterans and seeing the Word War II Memorial with them was wonderful. Some of them had never talked about their war experiences before being on the Honor Flight,” he said. “But the sad part is, so many veterans never got to see their Memorial or experience the Honor Flight, many passed before it was built. But for those of us who did, we see it as better late than never.”

Hayes also stressed the importance of exposing younger generations to the plight of our servicemen all those years ago.

“Making this movie changed our lives. We’re in our late twenties and early thirties and, like almost everyone in our generation, take a lot for granted,” he continued. “After hearing their stories, things were put into perspective for us. We can never thank them enough for what they did for our country, but we can try.”

Ahead of Memorial Day, the documentary will be available on video on demand via SnagFilms, and the filmmaking force is challenging all Americans to really show their graciousness.

“Not everyone can go on an Honor Flight, so we’re bringing it to them. Through social media and the film, we can show these living heroes, one last time, just how grateful we are for the freedom and opportunity they’ve left us,” Hayes added. “Last Memorial Day we asked people for 50,000 views on the film’s trailer to show vets support. They responded with 4.5 million. Last summer the film’s premiere broke the Guinness World Record for the largest audience at a film screening in history. The world record was broken in honor of our World War II veterans and their legacy. On May 14 the film will be available on video on demand, iTunes and Amazon… The only way we can bring honor to the lives of our vets is through our own.”

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Documentary 'Aroused' explores what makes women turn to porn careers

Published May 02, 2013

Associated Press

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Ever wonder what makes young, pretty, "good" girls pursue careers in porn?

So did Deborah Anderson, that's why she made a documentary and fine-art photography book on the subject. "Aroused" opens in select theaters Thursday and is available for download on iTunes. The book is available on Amazon.

Many of the 16 adult-film actresses featured in "Aroused" attended the film's premiere Wednesday night at the Landmark Theatre and hung around afterward to autograph the coffee-table book.

Anderson was inspired to explore these women's stories after casting a porn star in a photo shoot for a magazine. She was struck by the woman's warm personality and her stories of harsh treatment from the public despite contributing to a widely consumed product of a billion-dollar industry.

Porn stars are not failed actresses. They enjoy their work and see off-duty sex as having nothing to do with their day jobs. All have had sexually-transmitted diseases. Most shared concern for how others view their profession and worried whether it could impede future job or romantic prospects.

Anderson said she hopes the book and film will spotlight the humanity of these women and the sensuality of their work.

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'Reporting on the Times' young filmmaker creates documentary about the New York Times and the Holocaust

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  A scene from "Reporting on the Times: The NY Times and The Holocaust" is shown.Reporting on the Times

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NEW YORK –  Emily Harrold’s Tribeca Film Festival movie began as a school project.

Now, two years later, she is 22 and the youngest filmmaker to have a movie screening at the prestigious festival.

“I was really, really shocked and very excited when I got a call from the [Tribeca Film Festival] programmer in February that they wanted the film,” she told FOX 411. “I was intimidated at first just because Tribeca is such a wonderful festival, and there’s so much talent. Being the baby, it is intimidated. But it’s also really exciting.”

Her 18-minute documentary, “Reporting on The Times: The NY Times and The Holocaust,” investigates why the New York Times, a Jewish-owned newspaper, published few front page stories about the Holocaust while it was happening.

She said she came up with the idea to make the short film after the United States’ knowledge of the Holocaust was discussed in one of her undergraduate classes at New York University.

“In the class the professor mentioned the U.S. government knew about concentration camps,” she said. “I had always been under the impression that no one knew about [that] until after World War II was over.”

She then came across a book, “Buried by the Times,” which inspired her to make a movie about the newspaper.

“It’s a part of the story that I never learned, and I am finding a lot of people have not learned, and I thought it was something that needed to be told,” she said.

It seems festival organizers agree with her sentiment. Harrold’s film is currently being shown simultaneously at the Nashville Film Festival and at Tribeca.

She said so far at Tribeca, the movie has been successful.

“We’ve had two screenings both of which have been completely sold out.”

The short movie features sit-down interviews with various historians, professors and even a Holocaust survivor, who all discuss the newspaper’s lack of coverage of the events. The film also features newspaper clippings, showing the brief stories published by the Times about the events in Europe.

Harrold said while making the movie she reached out to the New York Times in hopes of including the newspaper’s take on the coverage in her film.

“I reached out to their press office a couple times at the beginning and got a ‘we’ll get back to you’ and I never heard anything,” she said.

Still, Harrold feels the documentary did not suffer from the lack of comment from the Times.
“I feel like I know what they would have said: ‘We didn’t report this. It was a mistake. We regret it, and we are aiming to do a better job now,’” she surmised.

At the end of the film, Harrold included a 1996 statement from the Times, in which the paper admits there were flaws in its Holocaust coverage.

“The Times has long been criticized for grossly underplaying the Holocaust while it was taking place,” the statement read. “Clippings from the paper show that the criticism is valid.”

A rep for the New York Times, who has not viewed the film, told FOX 411 the newspaper "did fail in the way it covered the Holocaust and we have not shied away from that fact." 

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Documentary 'MURPH: The Protector' tells true story of hero soldier in Afghanistan

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LOS ANGELES –  It’s not your typical Hollywood fare, but “MURPH: The Protector” is bound to tug at every heartstring.

This new feature-length documentary tells the emotional, true life tale of fallen U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy, a young serviceman who gave his life to save his brothers in combat during a 2005 operation in Afghanistan. Patched together by personal memories voiced from those closest to him, the film paints a picture of a hero far beyond Tinseltown’s fictionalized accounts.

“There is a lack of family-safe material that shows the good side of man,” director Scott Mactavish told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I hope viewers have a greater appreciation of the sacrifices made not only by the troops, but of those made by their friends and family back home. SEALs aren’t comic book characters. They are real men with families, friends and lives outside the military. They come in all shapes and sizes, but are all incredibly driven and committed.”

Fondly referred to by his peers and loved ones as “Murph,” the New York-raised, Penn State graduate declined law school offers to instead serve his country. In 2005, Lt. Murphy was put in-charge of a four-man SEAL element in support of Operation Red Wing, tasked with finding important anti-coalition militia commander. While in the objective area, the SEALs were detected by goat herders and an intense gun battle was soon ignited with a much larger enemy force. Realizing that it was impossible to make contact with headquarters while firing back from the protection of mountain terrain, Murphy unhesitatingly moved out into prime target view so he could use his satellite device and call in help for his team.

While continuing to be fired upon, as detailed in “MURPH: The Protector,” Murphy made contact with the SOF Quick Reaction Force and provided his unit’s location. A shot in the back caused him to fall and drop the transmitter, and yet he picked it back up and calmly completed the call as the enemy -- and its weaponry -- closed in.

“Roger that, sir,” were his final words once he had given all the necessarily details. “And thank you.”

Murphy’s selfless act attracted great attention at the time, and he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007. But turning the moving account into a motion picture proved no easy task.

“This story is incredibly compelling and therefore easy to tell,” Mactavish explained. “But as a non-Hollywood guy, fundraising was incredibly difficult.”

Yet if all goes well during the film’s theatrical run, the filmmakers hope to finalize a deal to make the movie available on military bases, in addition to a foreign distribution deal. A portion of the proceeds from the film will go to Lt. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which was formed by his family after his death in 2005.

But above all, the forces behind the film simply hope that audiences gain a deeper understanding of who we should really be revering here in America.

“It is nice in this age of the generating of celebrities and people that have contributed nothing to this world, that someone like Michael Murphy, someone who is such a ridiculously, unbelievable individual, now has people looking up to him,” one of his friends says in the documentary. “He is the type of person people should look up to, and that they should name things after.”

“MURPH: The Protector” premieres at select Regal Entertainment Group Theaters on Friday, March 22nd.

MURPH: The Protector - Official Trailer [HD] from Mactavish Pictures on Vimeo.

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Oscar-nominated Palestinian documentary director detained briefly at LAX

LOS ANGELES –  Immigration officials briefly detained the Palestinian director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "5 Broken Cameras" on his way into town for Sunday's Academy Awards.

Emad Burnat says that when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Turkey with his wife and 8-year-old son late Tuesday, agents told them they didn't have the proper proof that he was a nominee and would send them back if they couldn't verify the reason for their visit. After about an hour of questioning, the agents allowed Burnat and his family to enter the country.

Oscar-winning documentarian Michael Moore said on his website that he helped clear up the matter by making some phone calls on Burnat's behalf.

Burnat had just been in the United States two weeks earlier doing interviews about the film alongside his co-director, Israeli activist Guy Davidi, including some with The Associated Press.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that it is prohibited from discussing specific cases, but noted that in general, "travelers may be referred for further inspection for a variety of reasons to include identity verification, intent of travel and confirmation of admissibility."

Moore, a friend of Burnat's and a champion of his work, wrote on his website, michaelmoore.com, that Burnat texted him from an airport holding area seeking help. Moore said he made a few calls to leaders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who contacted some attorneys to clear up the matter. The Academy did not respond to a request for comment on Burnat's detainment.

"5 Broken Cameras," the first Palestinian documentary ever nominated for an Oscar, already has won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Cinema Eye Honors. It features footage that the olive farmer-turned-filmmaker shot using five cameras in his occupied West Bank village of Bil'in, from everyday activities with his family to protests and shootings. The son with whom he is traveling, Gibreel, was the inspiration for buying the first of these cameras in 2005; like so many parents, Burnat wanted to document the boy's first steps and smiles.

But he also found himself wanting to capture the tension and fighting that are daily occurrences in the struggle for territory. In the film, his cameras keep getting destroyed in the violence.

Because of his experiences, Burnat said in a statement Wednesday, he's gotten used to the kind of questioning he and his family underwent at LAX.

"There are more than 500 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and other barriers to movement across our land, and not a single one of us has been spared the experience that my family and I experienced yesterday," he said. "Ours was a very minor example of what my people face every day."

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