Sundance for the Troops!
We went to Alexandria’s Old Town Theatre on Saturday for Heroes Then and Now, a night of film screenings, awards, and special tributes at the eighth annual GI Film Festival.
We snapped former Marine and actor Adam Driver, best known for playing Adam in HBO’s GIRLS, with retired US Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, the subject of the documentary Travis: A Soldier’s Story, about the struggles of wounded veterans. Driver, whose nonprofit Arts in the Armed Forces unites artists and service members to encourage dialogue, received the Veterans in Entertainment Award and gave an impassioned speech about the power of self-expression.
Often called Sundance for the Troops, the seven-day festival preserves the stories of veterans through film and TV. Actress Michelle Monaghan, whom we love from HBO’s True Detective, plays a US Army medic returning home from Afghanistan in the film Fort Bliss. She and director Claudia Myers accepted its award for Best Narrative Feature.
Filmmaker Tyler Elliott, here with his wife Sarah, received the Best Short Short Award for his documentary film Knee Deep Sailor, in which WWII veteran Bob Autry recounts his experience of storming a beach during the invasion of Sicily with the 4th Naval Beach Battalion.
More award winners mingled after the ceremony. Here, Best Student Film Award winner Alex Fofonoff for Kingdom Coming and Best Music Video Award winner Reed Simonsen for Nothing Real.
Guests headed to an after-party at the US Patent and Trademark Office Museum. Here, actress and producer Melina Tatopoulas with Aurelie and Christopher Lavielle.
