"Where Soldiers Come From"

How an American Soldier's Street Art Healed the Wounds of War

September 9, 2011 - When Dominic Fredianelli and his friends signed up to join the National Guard, they didn't know what their assignment would be, or even if they would be deployed abroad. Their unit ended up going to Afghanistan and facing a very dangerous task: hunting for roadside bombs or, as they are known in military parlance, I.E.D.'s. When they returned home, the young men found themselves affected by traumatic brain injury — the signature affliction of the Afghan war — as they struggled to begin their college studies and reconnect with those they left behind. For Dominic, street art became an ally in this process when he made a giant mural depicting his military experience and the changes it wrought.
Trailer

Where Soldiers Come From - New HD Trailer from Heather Courtney on Vimeo.

Filmmaker Heather Courtney followed the group for a four-year period to make "Where Soldiers Come From," a committed, earnest, and intimate documentary that premieres today at New York's Village East Cinemas. Courtney, who hails from the same town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula as her subjects, connected with them on a very personal level. In her director's statement, she says that she did not intend to make a political film. "I am more interested in focusing on the emotional and human aspects of the story, as well as recognizing their complexities," she writes. At its heart, the documentary is "a film about growing up." However, viewers are likely to draw their own political conclusions when the soldiers grow increasingly disillusioned about their mission in Afghanistan, or when their National Guard trainer cannot pronounce the name of Afghan president Hamid Karzai and is not even sure if he is still in office. read more>>>