Colter (Sinqua Walls) is sent to a veterans affairs facility after being injured in Afghanistan while deployed with the Marine Corps. He is sick of the recovery process and wants to start working again. It isn't until he meets Lucy (Perry Mattfeld) and a Vietnam vet (Brian Cox) who teaches him to fly fish that he begins to connect with and heal his trauma.
Director: Joshua Caldwell
Writer: Stephen Camelio
Stars: Brian Cox, Sinqua Walls, Perry Mattfeld
“It's nice to start showing it to people,” Caldwell said of the film that recently played at festivals. “Whatever festival you're at, one of the best parts of being at the festival is seeing it with an audience. So it's been a pleasure, and I think getting the chance to screen it with veterans and seeing their response has been special as well."
“It's pretty special that, for the most part, everyone who was a part of this project had some kind of relationship to the subject,” Mattfeld said. “Whether they are children of veterans or the veterans themselves. In fact, I fell in love with fly fishing while making this movie. We had a legit trainer come to teach us... so everything you see on the screen is practiced and real. And not only did I fall in love with the fishing aspect, but it was the cathartic therapeutic experience that it is to be in the water, and that's a big part of the movie as well."
Having a relationship with the subject, as Mattfeld mentioned, rings true for Caldwell, as he noted that he has been a fly fisherman for years and is intrigued by PTSD and its effects.
“I am a fly fisherman and have been doing so for the last five years. A script about fly fishing doesn't really come up that often, but the other aspect that really intrigued me was PTSD. I had been doing research on that topic in connection with other projects for a couple of years, and none of them found a home, but I thought it was very, very important. So, those two songs together, they were combined with a beautiful script… I felt like I had to do it,” Caldwell said.
Mending the Line is an important human story that looks at war and the veterans it affects. It is not based on one specific story, but rather captures many stories, as Caldwell explained.
“This isn't really based on one specific true story, but it's based on a lot of true stories,” Caldwell said, also tying that in with an organization called Warriors & Quiet Waters that partnered with them on the film. “They take post-9/11 combat vets and treat them to experiences in the water…and they were very helpful in letting us know what their process is and connecting with vets who have experienced this. He really was a big part of getting the movie right and making it all come together."
Caldwell continued: "I think we as a collective humanity have just been through an incredibly traumatic experience, whether it's directly or not, there's a lot of stress there, and there's a lot of emotions that come up and a lot of impacts that you may not be fully aware of. So I think this movie is mostly about combating PTSD, but one of the aspects of Perry's character is that she has no connection to the military and is experiencing trauma herself. Very few people will understand what the process is like. of being in a combat situation, but we've all lost someone, and we've all been devastated in so many different ways... for me, it's that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, that there are people out there, there are organizations , there's the ability to move past what you're experiencing and still live for something. I think that's really the message of the movie. Whether it's fishing, family, woodworking or surfing, whatever it is, there's a life worth living live here, no matter what you've been through."
"I totally agree. I'm also very proud of the vulnerability we see on screen in some strong men. That's something everyone can relate to. Survivor's guilt is a big topic, but as Josh said, survivor's guilt Survivor isn't necessarily exclusive to veterans, so there's definitely a lot to relate to for any audience member," Mattfeld added.
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