“Seven Days in May” to Highlight 48 Films Honoring American GIs

 May 11-17, Washington, DC

Arlington, Virginia – GI Film Festival co-founders Brandon Millett and Major Laura Law-Millett announced today the line-up for the Third Annual festival showcasing the world’s best military films.  The festival will run from May 11-17, 2009 at the prestigious Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC and other DC area venues, including the Canadian Embassy and the Russell Senate Caucus Room.  The award-winning GI Film Festival is the first and only film festival in the nation dedicated to honoring American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines through the medium of film.  (See www.gifilmfestival.com for more information.) 

The GI Film Festival is not only the premiere film festival honoring America’s troops but also the most significant film festival in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area.  Major corporate sponsors for 2009 festival include among others:  Target Corporation; TriWest Healthcare Alliance; America’s Huey 091 Foundation; Pence-Friedel Developers, Inc; USO International; MGM/UA; HBO, Inc.; American Military University, and Discovery Communications’ “The Military Channel.”  (more…)

When I was a kid, it was considered a huge insult to say “your mother wears combat boots!”  They even made a TV movie with the same title.  And who can forget the bumbling 1980’s Private Benjamin where Goldie Hawn’s character was initially more interested in shopping and make-up than conducting proper drill and ceremony.  These were my first images of women in the military. (Naively, I entered West Point thinking it was going to be more like summer camp and less like Full Metal Jacket). 

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Fast forward 30 years post-Judy Benjamin.  Enter the age of Lioness.  In this gripping documentary, a female solider on foot patrol with the Marines in Iraq is caught up in a deadly firefight against enemy insurgents.  In another scene, a female soldier in full combat gear is searching house-to-house in enemy territory; patting down the Iraqi women looking for hidden weapons. (more…)