Leier und Schwert

LETTERS, a dramatic historical fiction written by Mrs. Evelyn Merritt in 2010, tells the story of U.S. soldiers and their loved ones through their correspondence beginning with the Civil War and ending with the War in Iraq. Sahuarita High School students adapted the Readers’ Theatre play into a movie, reasoning the student actors would be kept safe from Covid-19 by filming them individually, and afterward the footage could be reassembled into a screenplay following the original dialogue.

The protagonist of the film is the Bat living in an old mill and fighting rats and crows. It’s the war fought by disproportioned forces, where the battle is won by cleverness, skill and cunning. Somewhere outside the mill another war is fought.

In 1991, John Heroux served in Operation Desert Storm, piloting one of forty F16 Fighter Planes sent in to target large manufacturing facilities deep inside Iraq. Looking back on these missions, John explains that pilots, himself included, felt no pride at causing destruction, but did have pride in serving their country and completing their tasks. This is his story.

The true story of Bosco, a young musician orphaned and blinded by the 1993 Burundian genocide, is taken in by a member of the tribe he believes is responsible for the death of his mother. Bosco is forced to choose between hatred and hope.

As the only survivor of a battle, a cavalryman heroically defends his flag.

Theodore Ushev’s acclaimed 20th century trilogy concludes with this brilliant fusion of 3D and Russian constructivist-styled animation. Recycling elements of surrealism and cubism, this animated short by Theodore Ushev focuses on the relationship between art and war. Propelled by the exalting “invasion” theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (No. 7), the film presents imagery of combat fronts and massacres, leading us from Dresden to Guernica, from the Spanish Civil War to Star Wars. It is at once a symphony that serves the war machine, that stirs the masses, and art that mourns the dead, voices its outrage and calls for peace.

John Jones contemplates how fortunate he and his family are in America, where no wartime bombing occurs.

Killed in war, a man must overcome the various obstacles he encounters in limbo to save his life and thus meet his son, about to be born.

A lone wanderer yearns for companionship in a world where everyone looks out for only themselves. However, in the midst of a newfound camaraderie during battle, tension soon begins to rise as the pair drudges closer toward the inevitable.

This short film in support of the war effort focuses on the training and missions of Army Air Corps Captain Hewitt T. Wheless just after the U.S. entry into World War II.

A beat-up camper approaches a snow-covered mountain military check point. A pale sun is rising as a prelude to a chilly morning. The passengers are two old people who are trying to avoid the national draft of their grandson. They hide the kid in a coffin, pretending he's dead. But the commander discovers the young deserter.

At the end of WWII, a U.S. Signal Corp radio operator comes face to face with Die Glocke (The Bell), a secret S.S. weapon with dimension altering capabilities, and the potential to reunite him with his missing wife.

A short animated War Office commissioned health education film, showing the fate of each of the 6 jungle soldiers.

The Confederate Army wants to get an important message through to General Lee, but all the carrier pigeons have been shot down. Tweety steps in.

An American Marine returns home to his dying father bringing not only the hope to mend their broken relationship but his memories of the war.

A herd of war-torn and hungry rats tries to get an answer to the question of who is Lili Marleen from a mortally wounded young soldier stuck in a projectile funnel. Is it a reminder of first love or first relationship with a prostitute earning her daily bread? Lili Marleen is not just a distant heroine from a song. Every soldier boy has her own Lili, be it his first love from school or just an imagination. But always, no matter what happens, she is waiting for her soldier underneath the lantern by the barrack gate...

Fallen Art presents the story of General A, a self-proclaimed artist. His art, however, consists of a deranged method of stop motion photography, where the individual frames of the movie are created by photographs made by Dr. Johann Friedrich, depicting the bodies of dead soldiers, pushed down by Sergeant Al from a giant springboard onto a slab of concrete.

On a winter morning, a mother goes to waken her son Heinrich; his bed is empty. She leaves her flat to find him. The neighbors' door, with a Star of David painted on it, is ajar, the furnishings in disarray, the family gone. She asks passersby, runs to the police then on to the rail yard. Flashbacks show that Heinrich and the neighbors' son Paul are six years old and best friends. Paul's family's deportation is expected soon; Heinrich's mother tells her son that they're going to Toyland. Heinrich wants to go with them, has a bag packed, and listens for their departure. His mother realizes he's joined them, and her resolve becomes more urgent. Will she arrive in time to save Heinrich?

An elderly man tells his granddaughter his personal story of the Second World War. His life as a child and all the strange characters he populates it with takes the little girl to a bizarre world she doesn't understand.

Five marine Operatives are stranded after crash landing in the barren Iraqi desert. They are under strict orders to deliver an important package to Ramadi and they have already been trekking through enemy territory for three days in hopes of completing their mission.