Feature length documentary. 1 Hour, 40 minutes. 2020.
In 2018, I rekindled a relationship with Brian Morrison, a freelance filmmaker I had met and worked with years before. Brian had spent several years developing a feature length documentary on Jonathan Hancock, a Marine Veteran from his hometown in Crofton, MD, who walked 6,000 miles around the country to visit fellow Marines and Gold Star families as a way of healing his war trauma.
Brian and I commiserated over developing passion projects while working and freelancing full time. This led to further collaboration, and after watching several rounds of edits and giving notes, Brian asked if I could work with him on conceptualizing and producing a variety of “recreation sequences” to better illustrate the isolation and PTSD-related trauma that veterans experience after arriving home from war. This was especially relevant for addressing the epidemic of suicide among the veteran community, which is 50% higher than for non-veterans.
The film premiered at the 2020 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and played a week later at the Slamdance Film Festival, winning Best Documentary and Audience Choice awards at those respective film festivals. As it continues its 2020 festival run, it has won 7 awards, and held over 12 screenings. Brian has made an incredibly important and beautiful film, and I feel very blessed to have served as an Associate Producer in bringing the film to life.
Mark J. Burchick 