FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival to Host Press Conference for Release of Iwo Jima Film, ‘The League of Grateful Sons’

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — October 27, 2005 — The San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival will host a press conference on Friday, October 28 at 12:45 p.m. CDT to discuss the release and 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 press conference will be held in Room 008 in the lower level of the Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. The world premiere of The League of Grateful Sons will be held later that evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Alamo City’s Lila Cockrell Theatre.

“We are honored to be premiering this documentary in conjunction with 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.”

Phillips, who served as co-producer of The League of Grateful Sons, will headline the press conference and discuss the vision for the film. Earlier this year, Phillips journeyed with his two eldest sons, along with more than eighty Iwo vets, to the island of Iwo Jima on the sixtieth anniversary of the battle.

Joining him at the press conference will be veteran producer Geoff Botkin, who co-produced and directed The League of Grateful Sons, along with Scott Brown, whose father, 2nd Lt. Bill Brown, flew bombing raids off Iwo Jima in 1945. Scott Brown journeyed with his father Bill and son David to Iwo in March. The Brown story is one of the featured segments of the documentary.

“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.”

WWII veterans are invited to attend, free of charge, the premiere of The League of Grateful Sons. 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.

Shot on location on Iwo Jima, 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 12 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.

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