ABOUT THE FILM HIDDEN BATTLES, a one-hour documentary, is a dramatic and deeply personal film about the psychological impact of killing on the lives of soldiers. The soldiers represent a cross section of nationalities, gender, class and race. In HIDDEN BATTLES, we are invited into their homes, jobs, relationships, and minds, as they unveil intimate memories and unconscious revelations about the central act of war - the killing of another human being. What happens when time and memory challenge these carefully constructed beliefs? How do these individuals make sense of what they have done? Consciously apolitical but deeply psychological, HIDDEN BATTLES examines the strength and struggles of men and women who kill and how they create lives for themselves afterwards. HIDDEN BATTLES is now in post-production. We will complete editing by winter 2009. HIDDEN BATTLES is a production of VSM Productions, LLC, a non-profit independent production company dedicated to making films for social change. "All higher primates have a natural aversion to killing. Very often the creation of post traumatic stress isn't the fear of being killed, it is the fear of facing the fact that you have killed." --Rick Gabriel U.S. Veteran, Author and War Historian See Rick More on the film THE CREW Director Victoria Mills is a full-time practicing psychoanalyst and documentary filmmaker. The award-winning documentary, MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS: MIRRORS THAT BIND was her first film. Victoria leads workshops with universities, national women's organizations, and grass-roots community groups for the film, and continues to be involved in outreach to these communities. She is a training analyst and on the faculty of National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, and supervises graduate and PhD students at several universities. In her many years as an analyst, Victoria has worked extensively with people of different cultures who have experienced trauma, including those who suffered from the disaster of 9/11. Producer Hayley Downs is a documentary filmmaker, producer and non-profit consultant. In addition to HIDDEN BATTLES, she is in production on SWAMP CABBAGE, a personal documentary about her eccentric Florida cracker childhood with Co-Director/Producer, Julie Kahn. She Associate Produced NATURALLY OBSESSED: the making of a scientist, a documentary by Dick and Carole Rifkind. Her video installations and short experimental documentary films' MOVE, COLESLAW WRESTLING and BOAR HOG, exploring multi-generational Florida folk culture, have shown at underground film festivals including New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and museum, galleries and art fairs including the Museum of Contemporary Art Miami and Art Basel. Her angst-filled teen journal was recently included in MORTIFIED: REAL WORDS REAL PEOPLE REAL PATHETIC, a best selling book published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment. She serves on the Junior Committee of New York Cares and she lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Marlan. Producer Kathy Leichter is a documentary producer and director, fundraising consultant, media activist, teacher and the co-founder of Mint Leaf Productions. In addition to producing HIDDEN BATTLES, Kathy is currently directing MOTHER LAND, a personal documentary about healing from traumatic separation between mother and child. She recently produced and directed PASSING ON, which features Elsa, her ninety-two year old, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother. Kathy is the award-winning co-producer/co-director of A DAY'S WORK, A DAY'S PAY and now serves as Project Director of The Workfare Media Initiative, training welfare recipients to show the film and lead discussions with diverse communities. Kathy recently co-produced the award-winning documentaries SPIT IT OUT, and MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS: MIRRORS THAT BIND. She is the mother of two sons, Otto and Theo. Editor Bryan Gunnar Cole is a director, producer and union picture editor. His background includes extensive experience in theater, television documentaries and theatrical motion pictures. He was a co-founder of Annex Theater in Seattle, Washington where he concentrated on new works by emerging artists. He has Produced and Edited three films for National Geographic including the award-winning SEARCH FOR THE FIRST DOG. He also wrote, produced and directed the feature documentary, BOOMTOWN, about the 4th of July in Indian Country, which premiered nationally on the PBS documentary showcase POV. His experimental short, UNFURLED, about how the US flag was used to express national attitudes following 9/11 terrorist attacks premiered on Showtime. He was also Co-Producer on RETURN TO PENGUIN CITY for Discovery Channel and served as Supervising Producer on THE BUFFALO WAR, which premiered on PBS. Recently, he Directed and Edited the feature DAY ZERO starring Elijah Wood, Chris Klein and Jon Bernthal, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Cole is also a respected picture editor and has edited award winning feature documentary films like Danae Elon's ANOTHER ROAD HOME (international theatrical release), Andrew Walton's ARCTIC SON (PBS/P.O.V.), and Phil Bertelsen's THE SUNSHINE (IFC) in addition to respected television series like A&E's THE FIRST 48 and the PBS series TEXAS RANCH HOUSE among many others. Bryan holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Director of Photography Jerusalem-born Danae Elon graduated from NYU in 1995, recipient of the Kodak National Cinematography and Tisch Achievement in Cinematography Awards. Her first documentary NEVER AGAIN FOREVER participated in over 20 international festivals, broadcast on Austrian TV and won awards at the San Francisco and Chicago festivals. Her second film, WILD MINT, screened internationally, and CUT was broadcast on Israeli TV, winning a cinematography award at the Jerusalem FF. Danae's latest film, ANOTHER ROAD HOME won numerous awards and was released theatrically in the United States in April 2005 and screened at many international festivals. She is currently finishing her new feature documentary film PARTLY PRIVATE, to be released in 2009. Assistant Producer Tina Flemmerer came to New York City from her native Germany in 2003 to study film. In May 2008 she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Film and Video Production from The City College of New York. Tina received awards for "Best Documentary" and "Best Documentary Editing" from the City College's Media and Communication Arts Department for her thesis project LESLIE DAY ñ CITY NATURALIST. In addition to serving as Assistant Producer on HIDDEN BATTLES, Tina is currently working on a documentary about a New York based Engineers Without Borders chapter and their work in bringing clean water to a health clinic in Matunda, Kenya. In the past Tina has worked on projects like ODD ONES OUT, a feature documentary directed by Dana McClure, about trans-gendered youth in New York City, and EVERYTHING TURNS, EVERYTHING REVOLVES, a documentary currently in production by the award winning independent media artist Dave Davidson, about the German Dadaist and avant-garde Filmmaker Hans Richter. Assistant Producer Samantha Silver recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland with a degree in Social Anthropology. After relocating to New York, she decided to make the leap to documentary film to pursue her interest in the critical evaluation of human nature through creative media. In addition to Assistant Producing HIDDEN BATTLES, Samantha is currently working on a series of documentary shorts about NYC comedian Jess Wood, and the film component of a theatre piece entitled HEAR NYC which explores alienation in New York City through re-creating overheard conversations and big apple moments. Sound Designer Lila Yomtoob is an aging young upstart. At the tender age of 25, she directed High Life which premiered at San Francisco Indiefest in 2005. Variety calls High Life "perfectly honed" and "razor sharp." In 2006, she received an Emmy Award for sound editorial on the HBO documentary Baghdad ER. Other film credits include, FUR, FLANNEL PAJAMAS, HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH and THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE. Currently, she is the first video artist at the San Mateo Ecovillage Video Blogger in Residence Program. Lila is writing her second feature film. She is a graduate of NYU film school. HIDDEN BATTLES ADVISORY BOARD HIDDEN BATTLES draws strength from a diverse and uniquely qualified Advisory Board. These individuals generously lend us their expertise in the areas of military affairs, history, psychiatry, activism and filmmaking. DR. CAROL GLUCK George Samson Professor of History Columbia University DR. ROBERT JAY LIFTON Lecturer in Psychiatry Harvard Medical School BOBBY MULLER Founder Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans for America GRETA OLAFSDOTTIR Documentary Director Women, The Forgotten Face of War and The Brandon Teena Story COLONEL DANIEL SMITH Senior Fellow on Military Affairs Friends Committee on National Legislation WAYNE SMITH Senior Associate Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Copyright 2007 VSM Productions 85 Fifth Avenue, Suite 910 New York, New York 10003 info@hiddenbattles.com