Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of “The Girl Who Wore Freedom” showing May 31-June 3 at the Mary D. Fisher and Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatres.
This special premiere of “The Girl Who Wore Freedom” is in honor of our veterans and active military personnel and all the service men and women that protect our country.
Discover the untold stories of D-Day from the men, women, and children who lived through German occupation and Allied liberation of Normandy, France. Powerful and deeply personal, “The Girl Who Wore Freedom” tells the stories of an America that lived its values, instilling a pride in country that is in danger of becoming a relic of the past.
“The Girl Who Wore Freedom” brings us to Normandy, France. Once an idyllic landscape, Normandy had succumbed to German invaders who overran its farms, its manors, its countryside.
Here we meet Dany Patrix, Maurice Lecoueur, Henri-Jean Renaud, and others, who recount their unique relationships with the Allied forces who liberated Normandy on June 6, 1944. The journey from occupation to liberation, to acceptance and forgiveness to gratitude and pride, is explored through interviews with French survivors and American veterans in this powerful, personal film that tells stories handed down over two generations.
We visit Brecourt Manor, the site of the battle between the men of Easy Company — known as the Band of Brothers — and a German battery. We hear from the children of D-Day, who were cared for by American soldiers after their families were killed in the onslaught. We explore the nature of war, of forgiveness, of gratitude through interviews with French survivors and American veterans.
We travel today’s United States with Flo Plana, who seeks out heroes of World War II to collect and curate their stories for the Utah Beach D-Day Museum. We meet veterans like Ceo Bauer, Charles Shay, and Bob DeVinney, who recount their experiences and the relationships they built over the summer of 1944.
Normandy itself is now a living war museum, with shrapnel on the beaches, bullet holes in its walls, and blood staining its church pews. Those that were there have vowed never to forget the lessons of World War II and to pass down the value of freedom to their children and their children’s children.
The film closes on contemporary D-Day celebrations of remembrance and gratitude, where French citizens of all ages celebrate those who were and are willing to defend freedom because they, the people of Normandy, know all too well that freedom is not free.
“The Girl Who Wore Freedom” will be shown at the Mary D. Fisher and Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatres May 31-June 3. Showtimes will be Friday and Saturday, May 31 and June 1 at 4:00 p.m.; Sunday, June 2 at 6:30 p.m.; and Monday, June 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.org.