Sponsored by Patton Veterans Project. Admission is FREE.

“I Was There” Film Screening Festival. Short Films produced by Veterans

Patton Veterans Project Mission and History:

Mission: The mission of the Patton Vets is to:

• Use collaborative filmmaking as a therapeutic pathway for veterans coping with posttraumatic and other service-related stress to validate their service accomplishments, reduce social isolation, and strengthen family, community and professional bonds; and

• Through regular community screenings, break down barriers between veterans and civilians, and educate the public about the mental health challenges facing veterans and military families today.

History: In 2011, having led film camps for several summers where teenage boys and girls produced short films largely centering on adolescent identity, Ben Patton wondered whether this same process of collaborating to create visual narratives this way could also benefit veterans returning from combat deployment as they sought to transition home and find their “new norm.” This inspiration led to the inception of the I WAS THERE Film Workshops initiative. In the Spring of 2011, he and a team of professional filmmakers were invited to host their veterans film workshop at the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colorado, where hundreds of soldiers were undergoing mental health treatment. Soon afterwards, he formed a non-profit organization, the Patton Vets, to formally house the program.

Since then, the Patton Vets has hosted more than 50 film workshops at several military bases, VA hospitals, universities, and private clinics both in the US and Israel, enabling more than 1000 veterans from 18 to 80 to collaborate on more than 300 short films expressing their experiences. Along the way, Patton Vets began conducting pre- and post-workshop surveys of participants, indicating that the workshop results in a significant drop in PTS symptoms, especially among those who report a PTSD diagnosis.

Event starts at 6pm.