FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival to Host World Premiere of Iwo Jima Film, ‘The League of Grateful Sons’

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — October 26, 2005 — On Friday, October 28, the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival is pleased to host the world premiere of The League of Grateful Sons, a powerful documentary that illustrates how fathers who fought during the bloody battle for Iwo Jima forever marked the lives of their sons, and how these sons have now risen to honor them. The premiere will be held in San Antonio, Texas at the Lila Cockrell Theatre at 6:30 p.m.

“We are honored to be hosting the premiere of this documentary at our second annual film festival,” remarked Doug Phillips, founder of the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. “But our biggest honor is the opportunity we have to say ‘thank you’ to the veterans of the Second World War. This is their night, and we hope it is one that the vets and their families will be blessed by and long remember.”

WWII veterans are invited to attend, free of charge, the premiere of The League of Grateful Sons, a film which urges sons to ask and fathers to tell of how God sustained their faith in the furnace.

“This film points to God’s Providence,” explained Phillips. “It gives praise to Jesus Christ and shows how the Lord worked through fathers who lived through the battle for Iwo as well as fathers who never returned home following the thirty-six day conflict. In both cases, these fathers communicated in clear terms the meaning of godliness to their children — sons and daughters who are now praising the testimony of their warrior-dads.”

In addition to the film showing, which runs seventy-four minutes in length, the evening premiere will also feature the sounds of Sentimental Journey, a full nineteen-piece orchestra band dedicated to preserving the music of the WWII generation.

“The League of Grateful Sons is not just another war film,” observed Phillips. “It is the true story of how faithful fathers and honoring sons returned to the black sands of Iwo Jima for the sixtieth anniversary of the epic battle and unearthed generational lessons for the sons and daughters of our day.”

Shot on location on Iwo Jima, in Texas, Hawaii, and Guam, and featuring an original score, The League of Grateful Sons has been nearly four years in the making.

“We pray that Friday night’s premiere will be used of God,” noted Phillips. “We pray that the release of this documentary will awaken a desire in the hearts of both fathers and sons to openly dialogue about the great deeds that God has wrought in our nation and to give thanks.”

Tickets to the film premiere are available at the door and are $7 for adults, $5 for children ages twelve and under. Admittance for WWII veterans is free of charge. Those who purchase a full pass to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, which runs October 27-29, can attend the premiere at no extra charge.

For more information about the world premiere of The League of Grateful Sons and the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, visit www.independentchristianfilms.com.

###

Press Contact:
Wesley Strackbein
Vision Forum Ministries
press@visionforum.org
Phone: (210) 340-5250, ext. 222
www.independentchristianfilms.com