“Is Anybody Listening? is a powerful and moving film that gets the non-veteran world interacting with the veteran as a human being, giving them the chance to speak and feel safe, which too rarely happens. Ultimately, both sides are helped to connect which is essential for us all”
— Shad Meshad, Founder/Director, National Veterans Foundation
“Compelling…a wonderful film that every American should watch”
— Colonel (Ret.) David W. Sutherland, Easter Seals Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services
A POWERFUL DOCUMENTARY ABOUT CONNECTION AND HEALING, THIS POIGNANT FILM FOLLOWS ONE WOMAN’S JOURNEY TO – AND ACROSS — THE OFTEN INSURMOUNTABLE CHASM BETWEEN MILITARY VETS AND OTHERS
IS ANYBODY LISTENING?
Street Date: February 18, 2020
DVD/Digital: $24.95
Endorsed by the National Veterans Foundation and the Returning
Veterans Project, this Award-Winning Doc Was Produced by Paula J. Caplan, Founder of the National Non-Profit Listen to a Veteran and author of
“When Johnny and Jane Came Marching Home”; Aside from DVD and Digital,
IS ANYBODY LISTENING? Will Also Be Available Via Streaming Platform IndiePix Unlimited on Amazon Channels
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Psychologist and author Paula J. Caplan grew up listening to — but not remembering — stories her beloved father, Jerome A. Caplan, told annually about being Captain of an all-Black battery in The Battle of the Bulge. Intrigued, she went on to meet with hundreds of veterans whose deeply human reactions to war are often mistakenly diagnosed as mental illness upon their return home. After recognizing that most Americans are both war and military-illiterate,Paula was moved to set up Listen to a Veteran, a nationwide non-profit, enabling non-veterans to listen in wholehearted, respectful silence to whatever a veteran wants to say, reducing their soul-crushing isolation, as well as non-veterans’ illiteracy about war. In the award-winning documentary, IS ANYBODY LISTENING, Caplan takes home audiences on her poignant journey across the sometimes insurmountable chasm between military veterans and others through archival footage, visual art, and interviews with vets including 96-year-old Isaac Pope, who served with her father.
Broaching an overdue national discussion about the realities of war and the military, as well as the best ways of welcoming American veterans back into their communities IS ANYBODY LISTENING? is endorsed by the National Veterans Foundation, the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences; Minnesota Humanities Center, Returning Veterans Project and Culturas Music & Arts in Coachella, CA. It won an Award of Exceptional Merit for Research and an Award of Excellence for Editing at the Docs Without Borders Film Festival, and an Award of Exceptional Merit at the Depth of Field International Film Festival.
