Press

ALBANY, NY – “Restrepo,” a powerful, nationally acclaimed, award-winning documentary, co-directed by the best-selling author of “War” and “The Perfect Storm,” will debut locally at the New York State Museum July 6 as part of a program featuring the film’s other director and award-winning photographer, as well as one of its main characters.

“Restrepo: One Platoon, One Year, One Valley” will be shown free-of-charge at 6:30 p.m. in the Huxley Theater after making its national debut June 25 in New York City and Los Angeles. On July 9 the film will also be shown at the Spectrum Theater.

Those wishing to attend the Museum screening should call (518) 474-0076. The film is one of a series of programs planned in conjunction with the Museum’s Citizen Soldier: New York’s National Guard in the American Century exhibition, open through March 2011.

Presented by National Geographic Entertainment, “Restrepo” was named the best documentary in January at the Sundance Film Festival. The New York Times called the film an “impressive, even heroic feat of journalism” that should be on the “short shelf of essential 21st-century combat movies.” The current issue of Rolling Stone refers to the film as “explosive, deeply moving and impossible to shake.”

“Restrepo” chronicles 12 months of a deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's remote Korengal Valley, called the “deadliest place on earth” by one of the soldiers in the documentary. Before the outpost was closed 50 American soldiers had died there.

This is an entirely experiential film. There are no interviews with generals or diplomats. The goal is to make viewers feel as if they have just been through a 94-minute deployment. The film is rated R and is not suitable for children (those under 17 must be accompanied by a parent).

Following the film’s presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session featuring Tim Hetherington, the film’s co-director and award-winning photographer, as well as Sgt. Brendan O’Byrne, one of the soldiers who appears in the film. O’Byrne is also the main focus of the first few pages of “War,” the companion book to “Restrepo.” Sebastian Junger, the book’s author and the film’s other director, writes in the book that O’Byrne was “just one soldier out of thirty but seemed to have a knack for putting words to the things that no one else really wanted to talk about. I came to think of him as a stand-in for the entire platoon.” In a June 20 New York Times article on the film O’Byrne said that there are still parts of the film he can’t watch.

“War” will be available for purchase the evening of the screening and Hetherington will sign event post cards. Hetherington is an acclaimed photographer and filmmaker who has reported on conflict for over 10 years. He broke his ankle when he fell down the mountain in the Korengal Valley. Hetherington is the recipient of four World Press Photo prizes, including World Press Photo of the Year (2008) and an Alfred I. duPont Broadcast Award (2009) for his work in Afghanistan. A native of the UK, he is based in New York and is a contributing photographer for “Vanity Fair” magazine. Hetherington's book about the soldiers will be published in October.

From May 2007 to July 2008, Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade was stationed in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. The soldiers of the Second Platoon built and manned the remote and strategic outpost that they named “Restrepo,” in honor of their medic, PFC Juan Restrepo, who was killed in action. In the past five years the Korengal Valley – a rugged valley six miles long near the border with Pakistan – has become an epicenter of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. It was considered to be a crucial relay point for Taliban fighters moving from Pakistan toward Kabul, and several top Al Qaeda leaders were thought to have used it as a base of operations.

Starting in June 2007, Hetherington and Junger dug in with the men of the Second Platoon, making 10 trips to the Korengal Valley on assignment for “Vanity Fair” magazine and ABC News. By the end of the deployment, Hetherington and Junger had shot a total of 150 hours of combat, boredom, humor, terror, and daily life at the outpost. For more information on the film visit http://www.restrepothemovie.com/#/story.

HealthNet Federal, Southwest Airlines, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA), The Soldiers Project and Lockheed Martin are great supporters of National Geographic, and are helping to underwrite screenings of “Restrepo.”

Established in 1836, the State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located at the Empire State Plaza on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free and the Museum is fully accessible. Further

information about Museum programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.