About this Project
Synopsis
Common Sky follows a cross section of American combat veterans from four different generations of wars, moving from enlistment to extraction. Describing the weather, food, the sensations and emotional wasteland of combat, and the compounding cost of their experiences, they begin to tell each other’s stories until only one remains. It is a soldier’s tale, told with unflinching honesty and unrelenting sensory and emotional details that illuminate the indelible mark of War’s enduring cycle.
Project Background
After nearly two decades of working as a therapist, dealing first hand with victims of child
abuse and domestic violence, Kathy Carlson was invited to Bosnia in 1997 ostensibly to lend
her expertise to the war battered survivors living there. Stripped of interpreters Kathy
became fully immersed in the lives of the broken community she found herself in and without
the words of her profession she connected more deeply with her newfound family than she
ever imagined possible. Kathy’s view of the world, of war and its consequences, of empathy
and kinship and their importance, was dramatically affected by her experiences.
Like the veterans she would ultimately make the subject of Common Sky, Kathy returned to
America feeling helplessly disconnected from an apparently ignorant and indifferent
populace. Unable to find an outlet for her feelings she returned to her life as a therapist until
the Iraq War broke out in 2003 and her father, a veteran of WWII, called her to express his
profound unease at the enthusiasm with which war was being embraced by the young men
in his community. He said “If they knew what it was really like, they wouldn’t be in such a hurry
to go”. Coupled with her own experiences this sparked a desire in Kathy to explore the
physical and emotional reality of War by talking to the only people who know what it is truly
like: the people who live through it.
Seeking a broad spectrum of voices, Kathy has interviewed veterans from WWII, Korea,
Vietnam and Iraq, completing 75 interviews to date. While personal recommendations were
required to open the doors for these interviews, it was Kathy’s incredible capacity to hear
that allowed these veterans to share their most harrowing memories. Veterans don’t often
speak to civilians about War--In part because the experiences are painful to revisit but mostly
because civilians don’t ask. In several instances, this was the first time a veteran had spoken
aloud about combat. As a result the process of making this film has been cathartic for both
the filmmakers and soldiers alike.
Common Sky follows a cross section of American combat veterans from four different generations of wars, moving from enlistment to extraction. Describing the weather, food, the sensations and emotional wasteland of combat, and the compounding cost of their experiences, they begin to tell each other’s stories until only one remains. It is a soldier’s tale, told with unflinching honesty and unrelenting sensory and emotional details that illuminate the indelible mark of War’s enduring cycle.
Project Background
After nearly two decades of working as a therapist, dealing first hand with victims of child abuse and domestic violence, Kathy Carlson was invited to Bosnia in 1997 ostensibly to lend her expertise to the war battered survivors living there. Stripped of interpreters Kathy became fully immersed in the lives of the broken community she found herself in and without the words of her profession she connected more deeply with her newfound family than she ever imagined possible. Kathy’s view of the world, of war and its consequences, of empathy and kinship and their importance, was dramatically affected by her experiences.
Like the veterans she would ultimately make the subject of Common Sky, Kathy returned to America feeling helplessly disconnected from an apparently ignorant and indifferent populace. Unable to find an outlet for her feelings she returned to her life as a therapist until the Iraq War broke out in 2003 and her father, a veteran of WWII, called her to express his profound unease at the enthusiasm with which war was being embraced by the young men in his community. He said “If they knew what it was really like, they wouldn’t be in such a hurry to go”. Coupled with her own experiences this sparked a desire in Kathy to explore the physical and emotional reality of War by talking to the only people who know what it is truly like: the people who live through it.
Seeking a broad spectrum of voices, Kathy has interviewed veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, completing 75 interviews to date. While personal recommendations were required to open the doors for these interviews, it was Kathy’s incredible capacity to hear that allowed these veterans to share their most harrowing memories. Veterans don’t often speak to civilians about War--In part because the experiences are painful to revisit but mostly because civilians don’t ask. In several instances, this was the first time a veteran had spoken aloud about combat. As a result the process of making this film has been cathartic for both the filmmakers and soldiers alike.