A way to welcome home veterans

The Welcome

A Healing Journey for War Veterans and Their Families

The Welcome, a new documentary film produced by Bill McMillan and Kim Shelton, offers a fiercely intimate view of life after war: the fear, anger and isolation of post-traumatic stress that affects vets and family members alike. As we join a group of war veterans in a small room for an unusual five-day healing retreat, we witness how the ruins of war can be transformed into the beauty of poetry. As our perceptions are changed and our psyches strained, our hearts are broken open. Their examples of unflinching honesty, courage, and love lift us up, inspiring all of us once again to feel our common humanity, always the first casualty of war.

This film is currently available for public screenings. Watch the trailer to the left and consider hosting a screening in your community. It is not too late to properly welcome home our war veterans. CONTACT lin.thewelcome@gmail.com.

On Memorial Day 2008, these men and women left the isolation and safety of four days of intimate and intense privacy together, climbed on a bus, and went into Ashland to be received by their civilian neighbors. In an astonishing three-hour performance the vets entered into a poetic conversation with the sold-out audience. Focused around an ancient story told by Meade, the Veterans and family members told a powerful “story” of their own, bringing ovations, tears, laughter and stunned, almost reverent silence.

At the end, when this poetry is shared with a large civilian audience. Although this event did not remove the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress, we begin to understand that all of us are a vital piece of The Welcome as veterans try to find the way back home. We learn that true healing is in reconnection, understanding, and acceptance on a community wide level. Without this, veterans and their families are too often destined to remain alone, fighting memories and fears of a war long (or not so long) passed.

“It may say something about the particular community of Southern Oregon and our relationships there, but what we took from all this was the understanding that if you give civilian communities a way to focus their concern about veterans they will jump at the chance. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that people don’t care about the wars and the men and women who fight them, we have seen that civilians are hungry for a way to be involved. They just want a focus and a nudge. In the end we could not come close to using all of the help that was offered in time, skills, and energy.” —Bill McMillan, Producer

Awards to date

Audience Award, Feature Documentary – Ashland Independent Film Festival, 2011

Audience Favorite Award, Feature Documentary – Mill Valley Film Festival, 2011

Audience Award, Feature Documentary – Naples International Film Festival, 2011

Best American Feature Documentary – Ojai Film Festival, 2011

Best Dramatic Documentary, US – Docufest Atlanta, 2011

Interfaith Award, Feature Documentary – St. Louis International Film Festival, 2011