The national attention this award-winning war film has garnered is incredible and this lecture is timely and powerful. It's a film that speaks to the college generation and brings to light practices that need to be discussed. This film has even been discussed on the Senate floor and screenings and discussions have occurred at the highest levels of government. All 3 major presidential candidates have even spoken about this film as well as the subject matter it brought to light in debates/interviews in the last few weeks. On his website, Obama even asks people to sign a petition to End Stop Loss policy and he encourages people to see STOP-LOSS the movie. Just a few of the more important appearances are listed below. This is a subject that is being discussed across America...your students will flock to this important screening/lecture this Fall.
You may recall Kimberly Peirce as the award-winning writer/director of Academy Award winner BOYS DON'T CRY. One of the most respected young women in Hollywood, Peirce talks about her struggles as a woman in that town and in getting this personal and controversial film made, as well as a timely discussion of this film's subject matter.
Peirce has co-written, with novelist Mark Richard, STOP-LOSS, a topical and emotionally penetrating drama inspired by the real life stories of American soldiers fighting in Iraq (including her own brother) and a government policy that has affected the lives of more than 80,000 of America's bravest men and women in uniform. The enforcement of the stop-loss policy, which retains soldiers in service beyond their expected term, widely known as the "Back Door Draft," makes soldiers walk the fine line between doing their duty and doing what's right.
She also started the SOUND OFF website, where videos made by soldiers and their families with cameras Kimberly's team gave them are posted -- they comment, I comment, viewers comment. We have received over 1000 comments on the movie alone from soldiers and their families who talk about the film's accuracy and from non-military who are amazed that so many soldiers are being stop-lossed (100,000) appreciative to be finding out about the policy and eager to do something to help.
Continuing her tradition of writing real life stories inspired by America and the American family, Peirce is currently co-writing to direct a darkly entertaining tale of SEX, SECRETS and TABOO in SUBURBIA and an as yet untittled new work on the lawless streets of New Orleans as they become the breeding ground for a great American gangster.
