Gathr Films Acquires Documentary Thank You for Your Service
From Award-winning filmmaker Tom Donahue (Casting By), Thank You for Your Service Opens in Select Markets October 7 and Nationwide October 17 via Theatrical On Demand® -- Thank You for Your Service advocates for the creation of a Behavioral Health Corps (BHC) to streamline mental healthcare services throughout the U.S. military
Los Angeles, CA, September 14, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Gathr Films has acquired the distribution rights for all English-speaking territories to the documentary film Thank You for Your Service. From the creators of the award-winning film Casting By comes a transformative national story about the U.S. military’s mental health crisis. The film opens in select markets for week-long engagements on October 7th, followed by a nationwide Theatrical On Demand® release of one-night-only event screenings beginning October 17th and continuing throughout the fall/winter.
The U.S. military faces a mental health crisis of historic proportions. Thank You for Your Service takes aim at the flawed mental health policies within the Armed Services and their tragic consequences. The film interweaves the stories of four Iraq War veterans with candid interviews of top military, government, and civilian leaders. Observing the systemic neglect to address the current mental health needs of U.S. service members, the film argues for significant internal change and offers a roadmap of hope.
"It is my hope that Thank You for Your Service will jump start a serious-minded and much-needed conversation about the mental health issues facing those who have served our country, those who are currently serving and those who will serve in the future. We hope the film can help change policies and outdated attitudes, showing that we value the mental health of our troops as much as we do their physical health. The time has come," said Donahue.
Tom Donahue, Director
Interviews include former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (2006-2011), Admiral Mike Mullen (Ret.), General David Petraeus (Ret.), Brig. General Loree Sutton (Ret.), Sebastian Junger, Nicholas Kristof, Dexter Filkins, Senator Patty Murray, former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani and Colonels Lawrence Wilkerson (Ret.) and Dave Sutherland (Ret.).
Directed by Tom Donahue, Thank You for Your Service is produced by CreativeChaos vmg, and produced by Ilan Arboleda (Casting By) and Matt Tyson. Executive Producer is Gerald Sprayregen (Sprayregen Family Foundation), and Co-Executive Producer is Regina K. Scully Founder of the Artemis Rising Foundation (Invisible War).
Support the movement. Thank You for Your Service aims to highlight the challenges soldiers face to access quality mental health care and identify the source of those challenges, primarily, the lack of a central agency overseeing mental health care to active member military personnel. BHCNOW is the social action campaign associated with the film Thank You for Your Service that supports the creation of the Behavioral Health Corps within the Department of Defense. To learn more about the BHC and BHCNOW visit BHCNOW.com.
“It is my hope that Thank You for Your Service will jump start a serious-minded and much-needed conversation about the mental health issues facing those who have served our country, those who are currently serving and those who will serve in the future. We hope the film can help change policies and outdated attitudes, showing that we value the mental health of our troops as much as we do their physical health. The time has come,” said Donahue. “We’re excited to release the film in this innovative way through Theatrical On Demand® so the film can go beyond a traditional movie release. We hope to create real social and political impact that leads to a positive and lasting change for our military by creating a Behavioral Health Corps.”
This film is being distributed through Gathr Films and Theatrical On Demand®. Gathr accommodates the demand of engaged communities by facilitating screenings virtually wherever and whenever they are sourced. Theatrical On Demand® uses political-style grassroots coalition-building to target communities and use the film as a tool to advance existing social impact and political action movements.
Movie-goers can crowd-source individual screenings of Thank You for Your Service in theaters near them via Theatrical On Demand®. Thank You for Your Service will show in a city only if enough tickets are reserved in advance. To captain a screening, or to find tickets: http://www.tyfysfilm.com/
“We acquired Thank You for Your Service because it is incredibly well done and because it identifies solutions for a stronger, more sustained mental health services for veterans – namely, a Behavioral Health Corps. Using Thank You for Your Service as a vehicle to drive discussion, awareness and political action most effectively leverages our technology-driven distribution model. We are so happy to have forged an alliance with the filmmakers to drive a double bottom line for their fantastic film,” said Gathr Founder/CEO Scott Glosserman.
GATHR FILMS is a technology-based specialty distributor focusing on documentaries and issues-oriented films. Gathr pioneered Theatrical On Demand® in 2011. TOD screenings harness organic demand—screenings occur when a minimum number of people reserve tickets in advance. The company works with more than 3,000 theaters across all the major theater chains including Regal, AMC, Carmike, Cinemark, Marcus, and Wehrenberg. Gathr uses political-style grassroots coalition-building to target decentralized communities to galvanize their supporters around social impact and political action.
Films distributed through Theatrical On Demand® include Girl Rising (4th highest grossing documentary of 2013), Awake: The Life of Yogananda ($1.4 million in revenue), Beyond the Mask (700+ screenings), The Square (2014 Oscar® nominee), The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2015 Oscar® nominee), The Anonymous People (200+ screenings) and When Marnie Was There (2016 Oscar® nominee). Gathr Films is located in Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C. http://www.gathr.us/
Source: Gathr Films