Where Soldiers Come From: An Emmy Award WInning Documentary Film
by Heather Courtney, 2011
From a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of childhood friends and their town, forever changed by a faraway war. Enticed by a $20,000 signing bonus and the college tuition support, best friends Dominic and Cole join the National Guard after graduating from their rural high school.
Winner, News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story, Long Form, 2012
Winner, Traverse City Film Festival - Best U.S. Documentary,
Winner, SXSW Film Festival - Editing;
Winner Philadelphia Film Festival - Jury Award, Best Documentary Feature
Selected by MOMA for the Documentary Fortnight series in March, 2013.
From the NY Times:
"Putting young faces on a very old problem, Where Soldiers Come From, Heather Courtney's quietly devastating documentary about growing up all too quickly, tracks three of these young men over 4 years. As she accompanies them through basic training and a 2009 deployment to an explosives unit in Afghanistan; visits their families while they are overseas, and records their rocky return home. Ms. Courtney observes with highly mobile cameras and without commentary." -- Jeannette Catsoulis , NY Times