veterans — BLOG — HAMMR Productions

On The Road With Interpreters Wanted: Film Festival Circuit (Part 1 of 2)

Interpreters Wanted is my second feature documentary and a film that took 14 years to complete. It’s a story of brotherhood built during war, resilience in the face of death and fulfilling the promise of never leaving our people behind. Please read our BLOG POST about the making of Interpreters Wanted, and how far we’ve come to get here!

These next two blog posts I will share about a dream that truly came true in my life; showing a movie I’m super proud of, at film festivals around the U.S., with an amazing woman by my side, bucket list check! From our World Premiere at Gig Harbor in Washington, to the Heartland International Film Festival in Indiana, to a special screening to raise money for our partner No One Left Behind in Utah, to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, all the way back home to Los Angeles to the amazing Dances With Films Film Festival.

If you’ve been following along this journey you’d have seen we’re now an award winning film, we’re currently sitting at %100 on Rotten Tomatoes and have been getting great articles written about the film. Our very first screening was our Veteran TV Special screening and our USC Cinema School Friends/Family screening.

SSG Ham's Army Films - ’07-’10 (Part 1 of 3)

Welcome back to my blog and thanks for your continued support. For this next post I would like to share with you the stories behind the films I made while I was in the Army as a combat videographer, public affairs specialist. I had never thought about joining the military until September 11th, 2001 happened. That horrible morning changed the trajectory of all of our lives and set in me the desire to serve my country. However at that time I had turned 18 and had started my undergraduate degree in film, was starting to date my late-wife Melanie and was not ready. Fast forward 2007 our country is at the height of violence in Iraq as our forces start a new surge and I decided to join the military in order to “tell the soldiers’ story from the front lines.” Subsequently I have become the most award winning military combat videographer in the post 9/11 era.

Part 2 - The Good, Bad, Ugly, and Beautiful of the Veteran's Health Administration

Veterans have a lot of feelings associated with V.A. healthcare and oftentimes I hear from them how horrible it is and sadly too many of their stories are true. George Washington was once attributed as saying “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.” Whether President Washington actually said that or not, it entirely holds truth. If we can’t take care of our returning Veterans not only is that a great moral injustice but it also sends a negative message to those who may want to defend our nation in the future. Veteran’s issues should be one of the most unifying ideals in our country and it transcends party lines. As you read this post, take a few minutes to watch some of the short stories about the V.A. I directed along with the great team at Gig Line Media.

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