I spent today at the College of Creative Studies venue. I was working the ticket table so I didn’t see most of the films, which were primarily student submissions. About 30 minutes before the first screening, a young man and his father arrived. The young man was one of the student filmmakers in the first screening blocks. His arrival confused some of us as we didn’t think he was a local filmmaker. Turns out Josh Rosenberg and his father had driven over from Wisconsin to see his film.

His father was a true proud father, taking photos of the theatre, asking for a shirt and showing his son complete and total support. The look of joy and pride on the father’s face when it was announced Josh’s film had won one of the two student submission awards is a look I won’t forget. And the prize was well deserved.

I and all the volunteers snuck in to watch the Josh’s film Citizen Soldiers. I think we all walked about with a lump in our throats. The film was a sharp look at our veterans and how they feel, how war affected them, how they felt returning from it and how they feel about their experiences. A well-edited, well-told, well-thought film especially considering it was done by a student. Possibly one of the best films I had seen the entire weekend.

We were so blown away by it that we wanted to show it again. Hopefully, we will be able to at a special screening down the road. I am so glad I snuck in and now I have spent the rest of the day telling everyone “You missed the most amazing short film.”

Detroit Docs ends tomorrow with a screening of Winter Soldiers at the DFT at 7:30pm.