Just a quick announcement that the feature documentary which I have been working on in Toronto for the last ten months has a new name - 11-11. The date of course signifies the day that World War I ended. I have included an early preview clip of exciting visuals from this forthcoming landmark film.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Finally A Ride in a Glider!
It may seem odd or perhaps not that the director of Silent Wings which seems to have become the definitive account of American glider aviators during WWII had never flown in a glider. Yes, that was true at least until yesterday. My wife had gotten a ride in a glider at a local small airport for my father-in-law as a birthday present. He loved it. While we were there he said...why don't you go up? And I thought "it's about time". So I took my oldest daughter with me and we had a blast. It was quite a feeling of freedom and a lot of fun.
I kept thinking, however, that I still cannot imagine the fear that WWII glider pilots had to suppress. First they knew it was a one-way mission, no one was waiting with a bus to take them back across the lines. Second they had no idea where their landing field would be or if it would be clear of obstacles. And third, for most of their sortie they were being shot at with the bullets and worse slicing through the canvas fuselage. It goes without saying that indeed I have even greater appreciation of the accomplishment of WWII glider pilots!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Way to go Hal Holbrook!
I wanted to to send my personal congrats to Hal Holbrook on his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Into the Wild. I had the distinct pleasure of working with him for two days in Hollywood in 2006 when we recorded the narration track for my Silent Wings film.
I was told by his agent that he did not, by a long shot, accept every project that came his way but chose very carefully the projects he did do. His involvement in Silent Wings truly brought the film to a higher level and the proof is in the performance.
While working with him in our sessions he got a kick out of the fact that I have four children and would occasionally say..."OK what's next Dad".
Hal himself served in WWII. And to share a final recollection with you, when we got to the section on Pearl Harbor and he was reading over the lines before we recorded it, he stopped. He said “I’ll never forget where I was when I heard this news. I was at college and everyone was in this one room on our floor gathered around the radio listening to the reports. No one said a word because we all knew that from that moment on our lives would change forever.” Both the audio engineer and I were moved by his recollection.
So once again, way to go Hal and we'll all be watching the Academy Awards telecast on Feb 24th and cheering you on!
I was told by his agent that he did not, by a long shot, accept every project that came his way but chose very carefully the projects he did do. His involvement in Silent Wings truly brought the film to a higher level and the proof is in the performance.
While working with him in our sessions he got a kick out of the fact that I have four children and would occasionally say..."OK what's next Dad".
Hal himself served in WWII. And to share a final recollection with you, when we got to the section on Pearl Harbor and he was reading over the lines before we recorded it, he stopped. He said “I’ll never forget where I was when I heard this news. I was at college and everyone was in this one room on our floor gathered around the radio listening to the reports. No one said a word because we all knew that from that moment on our lives would change forever.” Both the audio engineer and I were moved by his recollection.
So once again, way to go Hal and we'll all be watching the Academy Awards telecast on Feb 24th and cheering you on!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Update from Rob Child on new film Dominion Day
It has been some time since Iast posted but as you know...life is busy. And my life has been incredibly jam-packed. This summer I took on a new film project, Dominion Day, with Stornoway Productions in Canada. It is the epic story of General Sir Arthur Currie and the Canadian Corps in the last 100 days of WWI. It has been a revealation working on it as one realizes that "history can be surpressed". That's a very bold statement but it is true. Curries' accomplishments during the last 100 days of that horrific conflict are nothing short of miraculous. His relentless pursuit of the Germans literally ended the war six to nine months earlier than anyone had expected. Why didn't you know that? Because the history was mainly wriiten by the British and the German's Official War History written in 1929 ends at August 8th, 1918. The "black day" for the German Army when the were engulfed in the battle of Amiens with 30,000 German casualties in a single day. Our German scholar Prof. Moll brought over the actual record and indeed there was nothing in their history after August 8th. Quite a profound discovery, perhaps they felt there was nothing positive to write about and indeed there was not.
I love this type of undiscovered story and this one is perhaps one of the biggest ones ever NOT told.
"The story you never knew and the one you will never forget"
During the final 100 days of the Great War a single commander and his Dominion forces emerged to capture the most ground, the most guns and the most prisoners of any allied army operating on the Western Front during WWI.
Gen. Sir Arthur Currie and his Canadian Corp., in relentless pursuit of the Germans, quite literally brought the most terrible war experienced by mankind to a close in 1918 when other Allied commanders and politicians expected an end to hostilities in mid 1919.
General Currie’s accomplishment saved millions of men from further slaughter and is the basis for the compelling forthcoming landmark film, Dominion Day.
An epic in the true sense of the word in both story and visual approach, the film employs high definition battlefield footage from historic sites such as Amiens, Drocourt, The Somme, and Vimy Ridge intermixed with the latest in photo realistic battle animation recreation using a combination of soldier reenactors and thousands of digital soldier extras and accurate modeled tanks and biplanes to show, for the first time, the grand scale of a WWI battle composited over the actual ground in which these men fought.
Some scenes include the massive battle of Amiens with the more than 400 Allied tanks which rolled across the French countryside as well as the epic struggle of Vimy Ridge in the blinding snow with the Canadian advance. And not to be surpassed, viewers for the first time will experience the spectacle of Dominion Day 1918 which took place within earshot of the German guns where 30,000 spectators came to celebrate one nation’s war-time triumphs.
The foundation of any compelling historic story is fact and an unparalleled and hand picked selection of on-camera war historians from all corners of the globe will set the story of the last 100 days straight. Their insight will be invaluable to the viewer in understanding military achievements as well as illuminating the context of how hard won struggles on the battlefield of a Dominion nation earned worldwide respect and a seat at the table of the League of Nations. Canada was a nation to itself before the war but after four bloody years, it became a nation to the world. It is the story you never knew and the one you will never forget.
Robert Child – Director / Dominion Day
I love this type of undiscovered story and this one is perhaps one of the biggest ones ever NOT told.
"The story you never knew and the one you will never forget"
During the final 100 days of the Great War a single commander and his Dominion forces emerged to capture the most ground, the most guns and the most prisoners of any allied army operating on the Western Front during WWI.
Gen. Sir Arthur Currie and his Canadian Corp., in relentless pursuit of the Germans, quite literally brought the most terrible war experienced by mankind to a close in 1918 when other Allied commanders and politicians expected an end to hostilities in mid 1919.
General Currie’s accomplishment saved millions of men from further slaughter and is the basis for the compelling forthcoming landmark film, Dominion Day.
An epic in the true sense of the word in both story and visual approach, the film employs high definition battlefield footage from historic sites such as Amiens, Drocourt, The Somme, and Vimy Ridge intermixed with the latest in photo realistic battle animation recreation using a combination of soldier reenactors and thousands of digital soldier extras and accurate modeled tanks and biplanes to show, for the first time, the grand scale of a WWI battle composited over the actual ground in which these men fought.
Some scenes include the massive battle of Amiens with the more than 400 Allied tanks which rolled across the French countryside as well as the epic struggle of Vimy Ridge in the blinding snow with the Canadian advance. And not to be surpassed, viewers for the first time will experience the spectacle of Dominion Day 1918 which took place within earshot of the German guns where 30,000 spectators came to celebrate one nation’s war-time triumphs.
The foundation of any compelling historic story is fact and an unparalleled and hand picked selection of on-camera war historians from all corners of the globe will set the story of the last 100 days straight. Their insight will be invaluable to the viewer in understanding military achievements as well as illuminating the context of how hard won struggles on the battlefield of a Dominion nation earned worldwide respect and a seat at the table of the League of Nations. Canada was a nation to itself before the war but after four bloody years, it became a nation to the world. It is the story you never knew and the one you will never forget.
Robert Child – Director / Dominion Day
Friday, March 16, 2007
Silent Wings get Congressional Kick Off
Rob Child & Assoc., LLC announced today that director Robert Child’s new film, Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII, narrated by acclaimed actor Hal Holbrook, has been selected by New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy to be the subject of a special Congressional Press Conference in Washington DC in the Rayburn Office Building on March 20, 2007.
Robert Child, the film’s writer and director and resident of Bucks County, PA, is scheduled to speak at the press conference along with the Chairman of the National WWII Glider Pilot’s Assoc., Inc., Michael J. Samek.During WWII, 6000 young Americans volunteered to fly large unarmed cargo gliders into battle. For these glider pilots every mission was do-or-die. It was their task to repeatedly risk their lives landing the men and tools of war deep within enemy-held territory, often in complete darkness. Gliders played a critical role in nearly all major WWII offensives including Normandy, Market Garden, The Battle of the Bulge and Varsity (the invasion of Germany). Thousands of lives were saved and battles won because of their heroic efforts. Congresswoman McCarthy, author of a joint Congressional resolution honoring America’s WWII glider pilots, has also scheduled a special screening of Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII at 6pm on the 20th in Washington for all members of Congress.“When I was first told of this development by my distributor, Inecom Entertainment in Pittsburgh, they began the phone call with ‘Are you sitting down?’” Child reported.Child went on to say that, “The notoriety is especially welcome to the veteran glider pilots whose bravery and accomplishments are virtually unknown to the American public. With the Congressional press conference and screening coinciding with the March 20th release date of the Silent Wings DVD, Americans will now discover a new ‘Band of Brothers’ whose inspiring story will now be told.”
Robert Child, the film’s writer and director and resident of Bucks County, PA, is scheduled to speak at the press conference along with the Chairman of the National WWII Glider Pilot’s Assoc., Inc., Michael J. Samek.During WWII, 6000 young Americans volunteered to fly large unarmed cargo gliders into battle. For these glider pilots every mission was do-or-die. It was their task to repeatedly risk their lives landing the men and tools of war deep within enemy-held territory, often in complete darkness. Gliders played a critical role in nearly all major WWII offensives including Normandy, Market Garden, The Battle of the Bulge and Varsity (the invasion of Germany). Thousands of lives were saved and battles won because of their heroic efforts. Congresswoman McCarthy, author of a joint Congressional resolution honoring America’s WWII glider pilots, has also scheduled a special screening of Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII at 6pm on the 20th in Washington for all members of Congress.“When I was first told of this development by my distributor, Inecom Entertainment in Pittsburgh, they began the phone call with ‘Are you sitting down?’” Child reported.Child went on to say that, “The notoriety is especially welcome to the veteran glider pilots whose bravery and accomplishments are virtually unknown to the American public. With the Congressional press conference and screening coinciding with the March 20th release date of the Silent Wings DVD, Americans will now discover a new ‘Band of Brothers’ whose inspiring story will now be told.”
Monday, February 19, 2007
Happy President's Day and Radio
I would like to wish all a happy President's Day. One of the few holiday's in the calendar, like Memorial Day, where we can reflect on American history. I just finished doing two radio interviews about my film, Lincoln and Lee at Antietam, which were most enjoyable. The first with KDKA in Pittsburgh and the other with WOC AM in Davenport Iowa. I know the radio biz well as I started my career as a radio DJ, while still in college, with WPOE AM 1520 in Greenfield MA. I have no idea if the station even exists anymore but these interviews today got me thinking about memories of my "good old radio days".
A funny story which I will share about WPOE is when the new program director came in (who will remain nameless - Glenn) He was a top DJ from another city and I was the college kid working part-time. Glenn wanted to change the format from the dreadful Air Supply and Frank Sinatra combination we were playing to something more "happening and upbeat".
The problem was Glen did not inform the radio station owners when exactly and what type of upbeat music he was planning to change to. One day he pulled me aside and said, "Rob, I want you to kick off our new format. You've been doing a great job and well, by golly, you deserve it..." You can see what's coming I'll bet.
At an appointed time on my weekend shift, I was to change to the new "clock" which is radio speak for music rotation. At the appointed time, high noon, I faded the soothing sounds of Vicki Carr's "It Must Be Him" into the shake you out of bed track called "Our House" by a group called "Madness". I thought to myself, now this is more like it.
Probably not less than two minute later, I got a call in the studio from the station owner..."Is this Rob? Yes boss. What the #!*& are you doing! What the h*** is this #!8& on my station! I said, It's Madness. He said D*** right it is! Complete MADNESS! Have you lost your mind! I said, I was just following orders from Glen. GLEN! Rob, you work for me and MY orders are put Frank Sinatra back on! I said, you got it boss.
Ah radio.
I'd like to close today, in honor of President's Day, in sharing a video interview which I did for Fox Television in Philadelphia upon the release of Lincoln and Lee at Antietam this past year. In the interview I speak about Lincoln and the amusing story of how I found the actor to portray him. Hope you enjoy it and hope you enjoy your day.
Best,
Rob
Fox Interview
A funny story which I will share about WPOE is when the new program director came in (who will remain nameless - Glenn) He was a top DJ from another city and I was the college kid working part-time. Glenn wanted to change the format from the dreadful Air Supply and Frank Sinatra combination we were playing to something more "happening and upbeat".
The problem was Glen did not inform the radio station owners when exactly and what type of upbeat music he was planning to change to. One day he pulled me aside and said, "Rob, I want you to kick off our new format. You've been doing a great job and well, by golly, you deserve it..." You can see what's coming I'll bet.
At an appointed time on my weekend shift, I was to change to the new "clock" which is radio speak for music rotation. At the appointed time, high noon, I faded the soothing sounds of Vicki Carr's "It Must Be Him" into the shake you out of bed track called "Our House" by a group called "Madness". I thought to myself, now this is more like it.
Probably not less than two minute later, I got a call in the studio from the station owner..."Is this Rob? Yes boss. What the #!*& are you doing! What the h*** is this #!8& on my station! I said, It's Madness. He said D*** right it is! Complete MADNESS! Have you lost your mind! I said, I was just following orders from Glen. GLEN! Rob, you work for me and MY orders are put Frank Sinatra back on! I said, you got it boss.
Ah radio.
I'd like to close today, in honor of President's Day, in sharing a video interview which I did for Fox Television in Philadelphia upon the release of Lincoln and Lee at Antietam this past year. In the interview I speak about Lincoln and the amusing story of how I found the actor to portray him. Hope you enjoy it and hope you enjoy your day.
Best,
Rob
Fox Interview
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Welcome to my blog...
I was asked recently to create a blog about my films and projects and I thought what a good idea, why hadn't I thought of that. Then I realized that it was because I am a part of a generation which actually listened to 8 - track tapes. I even had one in my '73 Nova (had to put a matchbook under the 8 tracks in the deck so they would play correctly). And of course, how could I forget that very special Christmas when I received my own 8-track recorder to make my own tapes. Life was good indeed.
Why all this nostalgia about 8-track tapes on a blog in 2007? Because they were cool in their day and now writing a blog, downloading music and videos to an IPOD is cool in it's day. Is "cool" still cool? Do people in the know still say "cool"? Or am I dating myself by using this dusty archaic slang reference which may reveal that in fact I may be losing or have already lost my cool. Let's hope not because many people consider me a person who rarely loses his cool.
The other factor besides the 8-track factor in what I deem my earlier resistance to penning a blog is what I will call the "Lazy Christmas/Holiday letter" factor. I see that guilty smile. For those fortunate enough to have never received one, I will elaborate. The holidays are such a rush-rush time running around to parties and buying last minute gifts that who has time to write a personal note to each person on their holiday mailing list. No, that will not do. It is much better to list each of your own family member's accomplishments, promotions, European trips, academic achievements and funny (to them) incidents from the past year. Yes that's just the ticket to spread holiday cheer. I did not want my blog to be the "Lazy Christmas/Holiday Letter".
Now to the business at hand...cue the promotional music bed please, great. I was very pleased to learn only last week that PBS and PBS HD is airing my film Lincoln and Lee at Antietam twice in prime-time on President's Day Feb. 19th. (check your local listings) The film,when I began writing it, was all about the tragedy of the battle of Antietam but truly became a story about the courage and political genius of Abraham Lincoln. I was extremely fortunate as well to work with some of the foremost Lincoln scholars who provided me eye-opening insight that I hadn't earlier considered. Lincoln remains a towering figure as well as a dividing figure still today. Witness Virginia lawmakers decision just today to kill creating a commission to oversee the state's participation in the Lincoln bicentennial in 2009. It is obvious that wounds from the Civil War still remain.
And of course I cannot close today's blog without mentioning (promotional music again please) the upcoming release of my Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII film. It took eleven years to bring it to the screen and I took the reins of the project four years ago to bring it across the finish line. Some stories need to be told and this is one of them. That is why I stuck with the project for so long. The film reveals the brave exploits of America's WWII glider pilots during all of WWII. They were the only front line aviators who had no guns, no motors and no parachutes. Every mission was one way and the glider pilots had to find their own way home. That should tell you something about guts. I hope you pick up a copy on March 20th.
That will close my first ever blog in cyber space, like the age old question, "when a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound?" "Does a blog posted on the web".... you know the rest.
In my next post I will fill you in on some exciting new projects I am working on this year. It is going to be a great year and I hope, through this blogging, that you come to know the lighter side of this serious filmmaker.
All my best,
Rob
Why all this nostalgia about 8-track tapes on a blog in 2007? Because they were cool in their day and now writing a blog, downloading music and videos to an IPOD is cool in it's day. Is "cool" still cool? Do people in the know still say "cool"? Or am I dating myself by using this dusty archaic slang reference which may reveal that in fact I may be losing or have already lost my cool. Let's hope not because many people consider me a person who rarely loses his cool.
The other factor besides the 8-track factor in what I deem my earlier resistance to penning a blog is what I will call the "Lazy Christmas/Holiday letter" factor. I see that guilty smile. For those fortunate enough to have never received one, I will elaborate. The holidays are such a rush-rush time running around to parties and buying last minute gifts that who has time to write a personal note to each person on their holiday mailing list. No, that will not do. It is much better to list each of your own family member's accomplishments, promotions, European trips, academic achievements and funny (to them) incidents from the past year. Yes that's just the ticket to spread holiday cheer. I did not want my blog to be the "Lazy Christmas/Holiday Letter".
Now to the business at hand...cue the promotional music bed please, great. I was very pleased to learn only last week that PBS and PBS HD is airing my film Lincoln and Lee at Antietam twice in prime-time on President's Day Feb. 19th. (check your local listings) The film,when I began writing it, was all about the tragedy of the battle of Antietam but truly became a story about the courage and political genius of Abraham Lincoln. I was extremely fortunate as well to work with some of the foremost Lincoln scholars who provided me eye-opening insight that I hadn't earlier considered. Lincoln remains a towering figure as well as a dividing figure still today. Witness Virginia lawmakers decision just today to kill creating a commission to oversee the state's participation in the Lincoln bicentennial in 2009. It is obvious that wounds from the Civil War still remain.
And of course I cannot close today's blog without mentioning (promotional music again please) the upcoming release of my Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII film. It took eleven years to bring it to the screen and I took the reins of the project four years ago to bring it across the finish line. Some stories need to be told and this is one of them. That is why I stuck with the project for so long. The film reveals the brave exploits of America's WWII glider pilots during all of WWII. They were the only front line aviators who had no guns, no motors and no parachutes. Every mission was one way and the glider pilots had to find their own way home. That should tell you something about guts. I hope you pick up a copy on March 20th.
That will close my first ever blog in cyber space, like the age old question, "when a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound?" "Does a blog posted on the web".... you know the rest.
In my next post I will fill you in on some exciting new projects I am working on this year. It is going to be a great year and I hope, through this blogging, that you come to know the lighter side of this serious filmmaker.
All my best,
Rob
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