After the first 20 mins things seemd fine though. When IFS ended the crowd of 150+/- people (which was a huge disappointment considering we passed out 10,000 fliers (yes truly 10,000) and even got the County newspaper as our sponsor, 3 free ads and an article in it. Also I had one man shouting in my face, truly, that we said no spin; prob is I didn't know the truth was "spin?" Still working on that one, especially since our benefactor IAVA whose members were on the ground in Iraq had no problem with IFS, nor did the Iraq Vets (6 or 7) that were at the screening. I talked to several family members of troops still in Iraq and they all to a tee, said they know this bs is going on and they try to ignore it, but this pissed them off, especially when the Natl Guard members that filmed our second film, The War Tapes, essentially said the same thing about KBR as IFS, just not as detailed.
BTW, I know The War Tapes is not out on dvd until late this year or early next, but quite a few of the audience, and I agree whole heartedly, told me what a guud fit the films were for eachother. So screeners of IFS , once TWT comes out on dvd, should be made aware. The troops, New Hampshire Natl. Guard, that filmed TWT give extra credence to your work, a confirmation if you will, well at least for those that are openminded enough to stay around to see them both. And those that aen;t, well quite frankly they aren't changing their minds ever anyway :-( As a friend laughingly said to me after our little altercation with the offended "no good deed goes unpunished," and as my dad said "you must have hit a hot button," LOL, dad is always right :->
Well, thought you would get a kick out of my experience. Several audience members told the theater owner they would do better to have more films like these, but the "friends of Dennis Hastert" in our county, prob won;t like those either. After all, how could the government lie to us ? No way !! LOL. Take care. What a night.
Ooops one more thing. I know its prob illegal, oh well, but Lewis Black (comedian) has a dvd / HBO show called Red White and Screwed. Your IFS hosts can get some great clips from it if they have a recorder. He buries the whole political system with focus on Cheney !
your friends, mark, Laura, Billy & Zach Grossklag
Geneva, IL
Questions for the host:
Q: Why did you host this screening? What were your goals?
A: improve public awareness and not to forget about our troops in Iraq, although after the event we went out for a few drinks and it almosy sickened me (and no I am no panty waste or virgin to fun, believe me!) to see so so many 21-30 +/- year olds out not 1-5 blocks from the theater and none could came to our event, or quite frankly gave a "rats ass". Of the 10,000 fliers we passed out, the first 3,000 went on cars that had either a "flag" sticker or a "support our troops" magnet ribbon of some type or another. Very disappointing we are this far removed from what is going on in Iraq.
Q: Any additional materials you could have used?
A: not really
Q: Any ideas on how you can use "Iraq for Sale" in the future?
A: in tandem with the interview that Paul Rieckhoff 1st Lt. & Troop Leader in Baghdad 2003-04, founder of Iraq Afghanistan Vets of America and author of the highly acclaimed book "Chasing Ghosts" has on the site americanmicrophone.com
We also showed the promo video that IAVA has available and the film feature The War Tapes, which was filmed by 5 members of the NH Natl Guard based in Iraq 2004-05 at LSA Anaconda in the Sunni Triangle. One of the more compelling films I have scene. No glorification of war, not overdone with blood and gore.
Q: Any advice for future screening hosts?
A: read above....if you go after the people that already feel as you do, not sure what you gain, if you try the marginal ones you take a chance of hitting the nerve of those that can be real @sses, but isn;t that what patriotism is about, a challenge ?
Q: Would you do it again for another film?
A: YES
