I am extremely fortunate to have recently become acquainted with Violeta Ivanova and had the pleasure of providing a small amount of assistance to her in her quest to create a fantastic documentary about her journey as a new US citizen and what it means to have citizenship. Well, maybe Mikko-Dakota should be the one to be given a huge thank you. Violeta flew in from Boston to visit with my neighbor/friend but this day she had to duty all day so I took Violeta on base for a quick drive through tour and doggie beach outting, Mikko-Dakota insisted on driving by the flight line to see Daddy’s helicopters. I thought it would be quick and also be kind of neat for Violeta so I turned the car around and headed over to HSL37. Upon arriving at the hangar, we noticed hundreds of Marines on the flight line. I guess we couldn’t help but notice because they were everywhere. What where they doing? Where were they going? What was happening? Curiosity got the best of me so I asked what they were doing. We were informed that they were preparing for the base change of command ceremony. **Lt. Gen. John F. Goodman, commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, relinquished command to Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder during a retirement ceremony along the flightline here, Aug. 22nd.** I asked if we were able to get some photos on the flight line while they prepared for the ceremony. We got the go ahead and we began snapping away while MD checked out all the big vehicles and guns and hundreds of men and women in uniform. He seemed pretty impressed.
After the early afternoon warm up, we came back for the real ceremony. This time Violeta was ready to go with her video equipment was able to get video footage for her documentary while I shot stills. I am anxious to finish the images so that not only will I get film/publishing credits and help out Violeta but I will be able to send these images out to the Marines that were our so graciously allowing us to snap away.. Thank you thank you thank you! I hope there families will be able to see them. They will be in a gallery on my site soon.
The film
OPERATION ULTIMATE GOAL takes you inside the United States military in a way never before seen on screen. It is the personal tale of a newly naturalized American citizen who travels from Boston to Marine Corps bases around the country and to Fallujah, Iraq, eager to meet the Marines and hear their war stories. Weaving video interviews of Marine veterans and their families with combat camera imagery, archival news segments, and verite footage shot over two years, director Violeta Ivanova documents her own journey to discover the meaning of citizenship and freedom through the stories of remarkable people who have answered the difficult call to serve their country in a time of war. The film is in the final stages of principal photography at present and the filmmakers are raising funds for post-production in 2010. Please visit the site at: http://marinedocfilm.com/)
About the filmmaker:
Independent filmmaker Violeta Ivanova is based in Boston, MA, where she teaches video production and post-production at MIT and consults on the application of computer graphics and media for teaching and learning. For more information on Violeta please visit her website http://web.mit.edu/violeta/www.
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