In this episode of Documentary First, host Christian Taylor opens up with heartfelt personal updates and reflections on the journey of documentary filmmaking. Fresh off a moving trip to Normandy, Christian is joined by team members Peyton Rabb and Todd Anderson to share stories, challenges, and unforgettable moments from the experience.

Together, they explore how veterans continue to impact younger generations, the role of gratitude in storytelling, and how filmmaking shapes not just the audience but the filmmakers themselves. From moments of humor and surprise to deeply emotional encounters with history, this episode captures the resilience, growth, and transformative power of telling true stories.

Sponsor: Virgil Films http://www.virgilfilms.com/

Support us by buying merch or watching our films: https://documentaryfirst.com/

Welcome everybody to Documentary First.

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I'm your host, Christian Taylor.

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This is a podcast where we talk about all things documentary and documentary filmmaking.

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However, lately we've been talking about a lot more than documentary films.

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Sometimes we bring in narrative filmmakers and just talk about filmmaking in general.

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Today we're going to talk about our company Documentary First Productions and give a

little bit of a company update.

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We went to Normandy back in May and haven't had a chance to do a production update.

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So today I am joined by two of my team members, Peyton Rab.

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Last year was our team intern and she joined us again this year for part of the trip.

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We're delighted to have you with us today, Peyton.

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Thanks for being here.

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course, happy to be here.

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And we are also joined by Todd Anderson, another one of our team members.

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So excited to have you with us, Todd.

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This was his first trip to Normandy.

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And for our first time being with us sort of on the road, showing the film and seeing how

all of the machinations of our company work.

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So Todd, great to have you here.

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Can't wait to hear your thoughts and insights on this trip.

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Thank you.

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um Also, everybody, before we begin, I just want to give another little bit of a company

update.

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As we are recording right now, it's September 5th.

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So it has been a bit of time since I recorded last.

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The last podcast I recorded was on June 26th, actually.

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We had gotten back from Normandy, but only by about two weeks.

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And I was set to have major surgery, cervical spine surgery, actually.

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It's something I'd been putting off for quite a while.

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I'd been experiencing some major symptoms of actually walking like a drunken soldier, not

really being myself.

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My equilibrium was all off.

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My arms were uh really numb and hands were, uh you know, I hadn't much feeling in my

hands.

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And so that surgery was set for June 30th and it was going to be in Utah and it was going

to be, you know, a long recovery.

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And three days before that happened, uh actually two days before that happened,

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I had my big interview with Steve Cohen about the And So It Goes film.

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And we talked about uh just all things Billy Joel and uh the film And So It Goes.

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If you have not listened to that podcast, it's a two-part podcast, actually.

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I encourage you to do so.

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If you haven't seen the documentaries, uh totally go and watch those documentaries on HBO.

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They're fantastic, especially if you're a Billy Joel fan.

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uh On that podcast, one of the things that I talked about is how I was struck by Billy

Joel's relationship with his mother and how he talked about that relationship in such a

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respectful way because his mother had uh emotional and mental challenges.

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And it was on the one hand, something that was really very difficult for him emotionally

and I think impacted his life in a very challenging way.

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And yet on the other hand, she was like the wind beneath his wings.

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She really was oh the one who believed in him and the one who gave him a lot of his uh

creative energy.

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And he really thanked her for that.

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And he talked about her so respectfully uh and was honest about, I think, her

difficulties.

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And I was impressed by that.

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And that was one thing that I mentioned on the podcast.

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But I was a little bit trepidatious about saying anything.

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And I started on the podcast by saying, I hope my mother doesn't listen to this podcast.

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um But then I really didn't go into much more um simply because I had a lot of the same

issues with my own mom.

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ah But we worked through those issues many years ago.

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My mom got healthy and I got healthy and we worked through a lot of stuff and ended up

having an extremely

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close relationship.

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That podcast went pretty late into the night.

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I just was on a high.

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I was so excited.

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I had a good friend here and we talked through the night about how wonderful it was.

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And I woke up the next morning ready to pack my suitcase to go to Utah for this surgery.

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And at eight 20, I got a phone call that would change my life.

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And it was my little sister Anne and she called me to tell me that my mom had died.

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And, um, of course that was incredibly shocking and, I didn't believe it at first and it

was devastating, totally devastating.

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And I immediately recognized the irony of, you know, this high, high experience and what I

had said the night before.

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And then what was happening in that moment.

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And of course I had.

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this huge thing that was about to happen to me and I had to decide was I going to go

forward with that or not.

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And actually I had no choice.

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It was a surgery that had to happen and my mom would have wanted me to have it.

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So I did go forward with that.

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But what that meant was for the rest of the summer uh I was oh battling back from a major

uh emotional blow as well as a major physical

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challenge.

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um so that's why you've been listening to other things other than me recording podcasts.

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um And we have been replay replaying uh wonderful podcasts that we had done earlier with

the movie Rob Minnett on his show that our audience had not seen.

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And we'd really wanted to show those earlier.

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So hopefully people have listened to those and enjoyed them.

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um

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But I did want to share that because, um you know, when that happened, everything changed

for me.

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um Whenever you lose someone like that, I think it brings incredible clarity to your life.

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um And that really brought incredible clarity to my life.

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It put a lot of things into perspective for me, work being one of them.

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I think when you lose somebody that close to you, you realize that um nothing is as

important as the people that you love.

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um not even work that you care about, like I care about um filmmaking.

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So it will be interesting to see how my work life proceeds forward.

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I know that this podcast is one thing that is incredibly important to me.

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I do love um bringing filmmakers on and talking about um film and helping other filmmakers

be better.

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So this is certainly going forward.

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um But I wanted to share that so that our audience knew kind of what's been happening over

the last few weeks.

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Now,

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Going forward, I'm happy to have another one of our interns.

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This is our intern Hope Houston.

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She joined us this year.

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Hi Hope, how are you today?

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Good to see you, glad to have you here.

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So Hope is from Laurel, Mississippi, my hometown.

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And we met when I went down to show our film.

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Hope was actually the reason that we had a screening in my hometown, Laurel, Mississippi.

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uh Interestingly enough, Hope went to Normandy last year, but

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didn't meet me or Peyton.

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Instead, she saw the girl who wore freedom on the plane ride home, went home and then

hope, I'm gonna let you finish the rest of the story.

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What happened next?

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So I went home and I volunteered at this museum that has a World War II veteran that comes

in every Thursday.

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And he showed me a flyer for your film, The Girl Who Wore Freedom, and was like, Hope, you

know, you just got back from Normandy.

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I love this film.

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I think you need to watch it.

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uh The lady who made it, Christian Taylor, is from here.

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And I was like, wow, that's really cool.

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I was like, I saw this actually on my flight.

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like what a small world.

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And so, but at that time I didn't realize you were from Laurel.

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And so anyways, I reached out and told you how much I enjoyed the film.

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And we talked about doing a screening in a few, I think it was two weeks later, because

you were coming to Laurel in two weeks.

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Two weeks later, we had a screening and

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Yeah.

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You had called and said, you know, I heard that you were coming and I was like, how did

you hear that?

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Anyway, I was like, can we do a screening?

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And I'm like, tried to do that before.

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Nobody's really interested, but if you think you can get an audience together, I'll be

there.

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And you know, she did, she filled up the, world war two veterans museum.

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She and her mom were amazing and they got an audience there and they had this amazing food

spread.

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got.

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three World War II veterans there, I think that night?

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Yeah, yeah, you did.

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And uh it was very, very memorable.

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But the thing that really blew my mind was this young woman who cared so much about

history and teaching others that she was that passionate and able to do that.

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So I said, hey, do you want to come with us to Normandy?

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And she said, yes.

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That was an incredible blessing to us.

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Me in particular.

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Um, I think what I did not expect is that I was struggling so mightily with the physical

problems that I had that hope became really, the person that kept me alive and going and

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able to do the whole summer, or the whole two weeks that we were there.

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Um, and that became crucial, because, um, we had so many challenges.

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I have never had as many challenges in Normandy as we had the summer at never.

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Never, not ever have I ever had.

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mean, normandy is always challenging, but this summer took the cake and I'm not really

sure.

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Maybe our veteran was older for sure.

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We had more people on our team than we'd had before.

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um We had, I took my son Hunter, who was in the military and who has very high

expectations about military protocol.

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And so you have a military officer who wants everything to be done by military protocol.

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And you have a creative filmmaker who's in charge of event in Normandy.

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And oftentimes those things clashed.

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So that was challenging.

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And then we had a van, that uh van problem that was really the, just the, think it was.

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really the source of a lot of trouble that ended up being uh taken up a lot of Todd's

time.

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um but when I look back at our time in Normandy and I look at the challenges that we

overcame, what stands out to me more than anything else are the lives that we touched

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while we were there.

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And um we're going to talk about what I asked our team here to think about are the two

moments

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that stand out to them most.

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And I'm gonna share mine, you know, as we go through, we're gonna do a round robin, sort

of, where we just all share one moment and then share the second.

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And we are going to just talk about, you know, what we saw and what stood out to us.

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And I do this because I want you as filmmakers to think about this.

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I made a film, this film actually began 10 years ago.

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It was 2015 was my first trip to Normandy.

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2016, the idea percolated that I wanted to make a film.

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2017, I started researching and went over for a first two week research trip like

pre-production.

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Can I really do this?

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Will I have access?

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And 2018 began raising funds and started to film.

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And 2019 had the rough cut done and screened it in Normandy.

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And 2020, it was released during COVID, which was not good.

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So anyway.

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It's been sort of out on the market since 2021 actually.

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And the whole point of releasing a film into the world is so that it can make a difference

and so that people can see it.

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And you you think by the time your documentary is released, you release it, you give it to

a distributor, you go on and you make your other film.

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And that's what I thought would happen.

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And here we are five years later and I am still even in October going to France again to

do it.

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screen more films, screen more schools, take this film again.

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It just has not stopped.

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um And I can't be more happy about this because um you really do want to um affect

people's minds and behaviors when you make a documentary film that you're passionate

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about.

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So um I wanna talk about that change, that effect that it had this summer.

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um

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And I'm doing that in hopes of inspiring filmmakers to realize when you are passionate

about a project and you want to change people's hearts and minds, uh it can have this kind

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of effect.

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So that being said, who wants to go first?

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first.

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All right, Peyton, thank you for jumping in.

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All right, Peyton Rav, ladies and gentlemen.

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Peyton, tell a little bit about yourself.

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Where are you right now?

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What's happening?

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um I am a fourth year at UVA, University of Virginia.

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I'm in Charlottesville right now at school.

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em I went to Normandy again this past year, even though I wasn't the intern, because I was

studying abroad in London for school.

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So I figured I'd go a little bit early, a couple of weeks early, and em go along with the

team again and see CO.

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So.

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Let me interject.

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I'm sorry.

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I know it's your story, but I have to say this one thing.

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You were really there only because when I saw CEO and I went up there to, uh, to do the

first, to do a podcast with him actually, um, and to help him because he had a sign that

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he wanted to put up there to dedicate to his battle buddy.

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He said he wanted you to come.

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Where's Peyton?

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Can she come to Normandy?

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That is why you were there.

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He loved you so much.

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Yeah.

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I'm a bit on a college student budget, so I can't just go to Normandy all the time as I

would, but I was already going abroad and so it really worked out for me.

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is like, these experiences don't happen all the time and he's very supportive of you.

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Yay, Travis.

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He's so in support.

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Thank you, Travis.

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You're listening.

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em So, yeah, it was just an incredible experience.

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And it was really different this time because the last time I met Mina was there working

out as an intern.

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But then this time we sort of struggled even like listing out on paperwork like what my

role was there because I was really just there to like help out and see people.

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yeah, just sort of help where I could.

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em when it got kind of wishy washy and we had this whole big team.

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I think Christian, ended up listing me as like CEO's granddaughter on some of the forums.

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And so.

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the other thing that was weird was that you did get sick early on and that threw

everything off, I think.

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Yeah, that was a whole hot mess.

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don't know, jet lag, some sort of sickness.

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Then

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you immediately, you got there and as his granddaughter, you were the only one allowed up

in the C-130 flight because that was a hot mess.

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And so many things changed.

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Here's the other thing that changed.

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We had a new president this year and that changed so many things.

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Um, it just was a very different experience and, um, that was one of them.

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Only you were allowed to go.

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Yeah.

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so definitely, I mean, that's one of my favorite memories, even though I was sick on the

plane the entire time, which didn't happen last year, so we couldn't have anticipated it.

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But being able to go up there with CEO again and just watch him and he gets to sit in the

front and like look out the windows like that I know is just the most incredible

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experience for him because when he was on a plane the last time like before Normandy of

last year, was

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he was injured and he was flying out from the war.

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And so it's just really cool to see him there experiencing that again with like the

biggest smile on his face.

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So definitely one of those em life-changing moments.

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Yeah.

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And that was actually not only, you know, the last time he was in a C 130 really, it was

the very first time he was ever on a plane.

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He had been shot up and by this bomb or whatever, and he was evacuated on an airplane and

that was the first time he'd ever been on a plane.

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Yeah.

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So, yeah.

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Yeah.

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So, okay.

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So would you say that was your first moment you want to share?

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Yeah, I don't know.

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There was just something about being there with CO and I was the only one able to go with

him and like one of the only people able to go with him.

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And so it was this big plane and it was just CO in the front and me having the experience

of watching him enjoy that moment.

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So yeah, that has to be one of my favorites.

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We had a big team that went last year.

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mean, Danny and flow went and all of our staff went and it really was, I mean, you were in

a very, you know, special position this year as his granddaughter.

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I mean, and, and in a sense you were, mean, you, he treated you that way.

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He loves you like that.

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So pretty cool.

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All right.

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Who wants to go next?

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I can go.

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all right, Todd, jump in there.

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Okay, yeah, I'm Todd Anderson.

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I'll go ahead, yes.

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I'm Todd Anderson.

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I've been helping uh with Christian's team here over the last couple of years off and on.

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And I had the opportunity, I had a couple of weeks open and she was looking for some

additional help with the trip to Normandy.

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And it's a place I hadn't been or at least a region of France I hadn't been to before.

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um Hadn't seen any of Normandy previously and...

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uh

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was quite interested in doing so and you never know when you're going to get there.

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uh And I was, was, hopefully I could be of some help as, as they, as they try to manage

those two weeks with, with, with everything going on and all the people and all of the

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events.

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And uh that was, that was quite amazing.

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And Christian had put together quite a calendar for us and it was a little difficult to

envision what it was going to look like, but yeah, every day was hectic.

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Every day there was something we were running off to.

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uh

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because every town and every event they wanted to see CO.

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And so it was lot of fun to uh be with CO and to uh just to see the perspective that they

have of our US vets or the vets that came to save them back on D-Day.

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um

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The couple of moments that come to mind for me were a couple that were unique.

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And for me, I had a lot of memories because this was my first trip over there.

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so a lot of these events uh were a first.

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um One of the unique experiences, well, first of all, I think for the whole team, what was

new was going to the lower valley.

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So when we left Paris, we went to the lower valley, which is...

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a bit south of Normandy, not on the coast.

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It's more inland, more farmland, um but a region that had some folks who were interested

in meeting SEO, in honoring um our veteran.

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And I'm sure they've always had some periphery to the Normandy events every year, but

within their region, they certainly have their own history of remembering those days and

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appreciating what...

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to what happened.

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So they had invited our team down there to uh be part of their celebrations.

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And it was amazing to see how well they set us up and took care of us while we were there

um and all of the festivities that they had around it.

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And I know they have a lot of people there that are experienced in the days.

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Todd, stop, stop, Todd, stop.

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So we lost you for a while.

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And so we, um we had to stop.

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So do you guys remember what he was saying?

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He was just talking about the lower valley and getting there and kind like the people's

mindset.

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And that they were excited.

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say, okay, everybody.

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Yep.

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So we had a little, we had a little glitch and we're going to jump back in.

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Todd, you were saying that you were seeing the people's mindset in the Loire Valley and

that it was very impressive.

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Yes, yeah, so it was great to uh travel the lower valley.

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uh still hadn't been to Normandy at that point, but I think for the whole team it was an

opportunity to see a new region and for those folks in that region to have an opportunity

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to meet our veteran and to have their celebrations, but this time with a veteran from the

US.

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And our veteran, CEO Bauer, was the only veteran there.

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So it uh was uh pretty wild to see how well they took care of us while we were there and

how well they revered CO.

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And there were thousands of people there that we had a chance to meet and so many of them

were so moved by the fact that this veteran was in front of them for many of them.

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It was the first time they'd met a veteran.

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and they understood the history.

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They knew the importance of everything that happened.

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They understood that this was France and it was still France because of what had happened.

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So uh it was impressive and amazing how much was put together for our little visit, a

handful of folks that came out to meet them.

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One of the experiences we had there and Christian and I were the only ones that had the

opportunity to ride in a parade.

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Yeah.

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so we had finished up a celebration and it had a full morning and most of the day, think,

uh and warm out.

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And so most of the team had gone back to take a rest.

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And uh we were asked if we wanted to ride in the parade or go see, actually it was just to

go see the parade.

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everybody was like, do you want to go see the parade?

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I thought I knew it was right in the parade and everybody was like, no, we're going to go

back.

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And I was like, yes, please.

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Yes, please.

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I want to go.

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And Todd's like, yeah, I'll go.

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And I was like, I love you.

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I love it.

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Yes, let's go.

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Yeah, so and at first I think it was we're just going to go see the parade and then it

became, wait a second, we've got a couple of seats on this this Jeep or truck.

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uh Do you want to ride in the parade?

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Well, sure.

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Well, when I think of a parade, I think of a parade in a little town back here in the

States, maybe on the Fourth of July or uh Memorial Day weekend.

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And usually it's a you might have some floats and some trucks and so forth.

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And they kind of go through town and it might be, uh you know, it might be a mile long,

slow process.

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oh to drive through the center of town and everybody's waving and throwing candy and so

forth.

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And in this case, was, we all got onto military, military jeeps and trucks and different,

different vehicles.

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Yeah, World War II era, more than I probably ever seen in one place.

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And we all went on this track and it turned into what seemed like a 30 mile, uh had to

have been more than three hours.

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Thank you.

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through the countryside and through every little town within their county or region or

province or whatever, uh where they were set up to have this celebration and just people

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all over the place uh waving and with all the reenactors amongst us.

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So that was just a unique experience.

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I sat in the truck, thought it was gonna be something and it turned into.

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Some completely different.

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had, what do we have helicopters and airplanes flying right over top of us.

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it was, it was off the hook.

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mean, it was crazy.

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Like we just kept looking at each other going like, is this for real?

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Like it was really like beyond the imagination because we ended up, uh I don't know after

the events and these events were Chateau Renault is one town and the other town is, um,

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Montoir sur le Loire.

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So these are two towns that are in the same region and they do things together.

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And they're about 30 minutes apart.

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But this is where our whole events took place.

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One day, one Saturday, it was in one place.

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Sunday, it was in the next place.

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And um we had on Saturday, we ended up at this big, huge farm.

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And so our event was under this barn.

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and out in this area outside, you had amassed all of these vehicles.

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there were like all of these, if you've seen them, the French resistance cars, you see

them in the black and white photos or videos or whatever.

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And then all these other army trucks that you see and all these people, all these like

hundreds and hundreds of reenactors, like I'm not exaggerating here.

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And then they start driving out and I'm looking at this line of cars and Todd and I are in

the back of this gigantic truck.

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with a team of people who are reenactors, but there's also a group of people filming in

there.

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Fortunately, they spoke English and they were explaining to us what was happening.

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And he's not kidding.

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I think we were there for two hours and over us helicopters were flying over filming us

and these World War II era planes were kind of doing like waving and flying.

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And then at the end they had, they had parachutists.

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that were jumping out with, and they were doing a thing where this was recognizing all of

the allies.

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And so they had people that were jumping with a Canadian flag, with a French flag, with

the Polish flag, think.

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and it was a French flag, Canadian.

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It was just crazy.

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was, it was so amazing and it was beautiful, Todd, right?

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We just kept looking at each other going.

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I mean, everybody missed out.

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Like this is one of the most

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memorable, special.

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I almost fell out of the truck 15 times.

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That's so fun.

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it was unique and it was another example of where they in that region of France or in a

couple regions of France seem to celebrate our veterans more than we typically have.

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And there's good reason for that.

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I mean, from the standpoint that their lives and their world, their whole world over there

was truly impacted by the war and D-Day.

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Yeah, and they also along the route, everybody came out.

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They came out of their windows.

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They were on their intersections.

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They were standing out in their towns.

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They were lining the streets.

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Like that's how they did a parade.

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Like everybody just lined the routes that we were driving and waving flags and cheering us

on.

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was ah remarkable.

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One day I may make a documentary about that.

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It would be amazing.

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Okay, so um that is one of your things.

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We'll come back to you.

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Peyton unfortunately has to leave us early.

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So Peyton, what's your second big memorable moment?

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So my big memorable moment isn't like a parade, I just always, when I come home, what I

remember the most is the moments like having breakfast when I'm drinking tea and eating a

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croissant.

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And I look over and Seo is not eating yet, but he's writing down in his diary all of the

experiences that he's had.

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uh

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It's in those moments where everything's sort of more still and like not chaotic for a

second that I'm just realizing like how much Seo really gets out of it because he just

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wants to record everything and he's asking like, who was that mayor we met the other day?

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And we're like, Sarah, S, A, R.

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it just, those are my favorite moments because they're so funny and they're also so sweet.

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So that has to be another big one.

387

you know he's kept a diary every day since like 1940, since the war.

388

So he has like volumes and volumes and volumes in his house.

389

Like my plan is to publish those things.

390

Like, can you imagine what they say?

391

Like I've talked to his family, like I cannot wait to read those things.

392

And we're gonna be in it, you know?

393

Can't wait to see what they say.

394

Anyway, that's awesome.

395

Yeah, it's those small moments, Peyton.

396

you realize how special and fortunate we are, you know, to sit with this guy.

397

You know, he called, I called him like two weeks ago on a Sunday because at the end of the

trip, he fell.

398

Remember that?

399

And he hurt his knee in the middle of the night getting up.

400

And, um, I was really worried about him.

401

And when he got home, did you know he got COVID?

402

No.

403

had COVID the whole time ever.

404

And he got COVID when he got back.

405

Nobody else did.

406

I don't know how it happened.

407

I don't know if he got it in the airport going home.

408

I don't know what happened, but he got COVID and lost taste and he was really sick.

409

And then the heat happened and he didn't have air conditioning in his house and he was not

good.

410

But I called him a couple of weeks ago and he sounded so strong and so happy.

411

And he sounded like full of energy and life and

412

We this hour long conversation just like, like always.

413

And, and I was like, see you, you sound so great.

414

Like I'm so happy you feel better.

415

And he began to tell me a story about how the day before he had heard that there was a uh

veteran fundraising thing at, it was sort of like this dance.

416

And so he went and he doesn't normally go to these things in his town and he realized that

it was free for him.

417

And he got to go and he went and he goes, you he was telling me about how, and I gave him

my spiel and I told them, you know, and I, and he just told me that he did everything.

418

He's like, everything I did in Normandy, I did there.

419

And they, they ate it up.

420

And I ended it with Vive la France.

421

be, know, Viva USA and long live the United States of America.

422

And I said with him, you know, and our free world allies, because that's what he always

says.

423

And, you know, I could just tell like that had just given him so much energy even to the

next day, because that's what he feels like he's here for is to continue to inspire

424

others.

425

That's what he can give back.

426

And um that is what, you know, I mean,

427

I'm going to go ahead and share one of my most memorable moments is this was near the end

of the trip.

428

were wrapping up in Normandy and I was with Thomas Boisson and he is one that's been with

me from the very beginning, one of the French reenactors, but now he's become part of a

429

producer team.

430

we were in St.

431

Mary, Gleaz.

432

We were in the square after a big parade.

433

And I pushed CO2 to the middle of the square and French people were just like surrounding

him.

434

Like, mean, flies on, you know, I don't know, manure.

435

So that's a terrible, terrible, terrible example.

436

But that's what it was like crazy.

437

And I was trying like to have a circle around him, like to push people back because it was

just insane.

438

you know, Toma was there with me.

439

We had three or four or five American soldiers trying to push people back and create some

440

order to get people to have pictures and sign things.

441

And Tomah looked at me and he said,

442

Do you realize how many memories you are creating for French people to have for the rest

of their lives?

443

And I was like, I just was like exactly like I am now.

444

I like stood there and I was like, holy cow, this is like at the end of the trip.

445

And we had been doing this for 12 days and we started in the Loire Valley.

446

at one point, and Peyton, I wish you had been there.

447

We were doing the same thing.

448

This was the beginning of the trip.

449

We were at this big, you know, barn and I'm standing there with CEO, you know, trying to

help people get signatures.

450

And there was this young boy there and he was probably 19.

451

He ended up being in the truck with us randomly later.

452

And, uh, he, he was too afraid to take a picture.

453

And I was like, don't you want a picture?

454

He's like, Oh, no, no, no.

455

It's my first veteran.

456

And I was like, what?

457

You've never met a veteran.

458

He's like,

459

No, I'm like, go get your camera.

460

He's like, I'm gonna go get your camera right now.

461

Because I knew that those moments are so special because I've seen people show me the

picture of the moment they met their first veteran.

462

Like it's huge.

463

And so I made him go get his camera and I took a picture.

464

Later in the truck, I was telling the camera, the film team, I was like, you know, I met

this guy, I told him the story and the French person turned to me and he said, well,

465

that's true for all of us here.

466

The American veterans don't come here.

467

They didn't pass here.

468

There's no battles here.

469

They just would pass through.

470

So basically none of us have ever met a veteran.

471

And I was like shocked, but it explained why everybody was just so over the top about

meeting him.

472

And I thought without our team, without our film, you know, without the commitment of CEO

to go over there, you know,

473

They would not have had the opportunity to thank, and this is what it comes down to, they

would not have had the opportunity to thank a veteran for their freedom, which for them is

474

everything, right?

475

And so that moment for me will stick in my head forever.

476

And I told CEO that, I said, CEO, you you just got to think about, think about all the

people.

477

that you have all the autographs you've signed, all the people that you've talked to, all

the photographs you've taken, not just this trip, but last trip.

478

you know, think about that out of all the lives that you've touched.

479

And he goes, yep, it's my duty.

480

Which is what he always says.

481

It's my duty.

482

It's not for me.

483

It's for all the people that couldn't be here.

484

Love him.

485

Hey, Christian, I've got to pop off, but thank you so much for having me.

486

Bye.

487

Me too.

488

All right, Hope, you've been so patiently silent.

489

Talk to me about your most memorable moment.

490

ah That's so hard.

491

ah There are so many moments I feel like I could talk about um But if I had to pick one

right now it would be I'm not a big crowds person like huge crowds a lot of noise all of

492

that So I enjoyed like the more like when it was smaller groups and the more meaningful

connections I remember there was one morning when we were in Normandy just getting ready

493

for the day

494

And know how it's always crazy checking off our list, making sure we have everything

before we run out the door.

495

um But I had the opportunity to sing at some events and Mr.

496

CEO was like, uh Hope, you know, I really want to sing with you.

497

And I was like, yeah, let's do it.

498

Like, what do want to sing?

499

And ah I think he said, we'll meet again.

500

And I was like, 100%.

501

Like, I will sing with you.

502

And that moment of just

503

It was just so surreal.

504

We were just in the kitchen singing, you know, uh a World War II song ah that we both

loved dearly and there being like, what, an 80 years age gap between the two of us.

505

But it didn't really matter.

506

And it was just so special to just have that moment and have that memory.

507

um Yeah, it's something I'll always treasure.

508

Remind me of that song again.

509

How does it go?

510

well, it goes, we'll meet again.

511

Don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day and on and

on and on.

512

But yeah.

513

And keep going, please, please, for our audience's enjoyment.

514

Sure.

515

Keep smiling through, just like you always do.

516

Till the bluebirds drive the dark clouds far away.

517

And won't you please say hello to the folks that I know?

518

Tell them I won't be long.

519

They'll be happy to know.

520

Right as you saw me go, I was singing a song.

521

Oh, we'll meet again.

522

Don't know where, don't know what.

523

I think I messed up the words, but that's the concept.

524

That's okay.

525

You know what?

526

I actually think I may have filmed that and if I can find it and I did, then we might put

that up somewhere.

527

That would be really cool.

528

Yeah.

529

Those special moments with CEO, you just can't beat them.

530

That's for sure.

531

Uh, you know, then and the stuff that he says and the lessons that he teaches just when

you're with him, can't beat it.

532

That's for sure.

533

really the second, if you want to move into the second suggestion I had, it was along the

same lines of both Hope and Peyton.

534

uh It wasn't a specific moment.

535

We had a lot of different events in Normandy, for example.

536

uh Every day has its stories and uh issues, trials and tribulations and so forth.

537

But I had the opportunity to drive CO's van.

538

for a lot of the trip.

539

And so there were a lot, and I didn't really think about it until after I'd been doing it

for a while, but there were a lot of days where as we were going to the next place and the

540

next place and the next place where I was sitting right next to CEO and he was telling

story or he was trying to teach me something or he was uh trying to remember something

541

else from the day, if you will.

542

And so I think just...

543

uh

544

I wrote down driving, driving Mr.

545

CEO.

546

So it was kind of like driving Ms.

547

Daisy at the end of the trip.

548

I realized that spent a lot of time, just, just him and I sitting up front chatting, um

typically with Carl in the back listening and laughing.

549

think at the different, the various conversations we had.

550

And uh so we had a lot of, a lot of fun with that.

551

And I,

552

I don't think I'd ever met anybody over a hundred before.

553

And I was amazed.

554

think my summary of what he was like was to him every day is brand new.

555

I think if there was a secret to uh living long, it's being excited about the next day and

about the next discussion and about, mean, every person he met, was like the first time

556

he'd ever met somebody.

557

You want to know everything about him.

558

And uh unlike anybody else I've ever met, it was uh sort of inspiring to see it from his

perspective.

559

And no matter how difficult the day was for all of us, you could turn to him and he'd have

something wise and calming and uh uplifting actually.

560

He didn't see there was a problem in anything.

561

um

562

That's not a problem.

563

Let's go.

564

You know, that kind of thing.

565

so it was, it was fun just to spend time around with him.

566

I think that was sort of the moments I had the one, the one story I do want to tell is,

um, it was me, CEO and Carl drive and, uh, late in the day and we're heading back up to

567

share board.

568

Uh, I think it was for the evening, uh, speech that he gave in their lobby to many of the

folks.

569

wasn't the evening.

570

It was a late afternoon that we were driving up.

571

And I think we needed to get up there by 430 or something like that.

572

So maybe it was middle of the afternoon, but it had been a long day and we were all tired

and we knew he was tired and he needed some sleep.

573

So we got in the car and we had about an hour's drive up to the share board.

574

And so this was going to be a good opportunity for him to, to, to, catch some Z's.

575

Well, he starts telling stories and he's going and going and going.

576

And we're trying to stay quiet so that when he, he slows down, he'll fall asleep.

577

And eventually he, he,

578

There was a pause there and he closed his eyes, took a little nap.

579

He thought, good, he'll get a half hour or so before he's got his next speech.

580

And it wasn't 30 or 40 seconds later, he wakes up and he just rolls right into the next

story with me.

581

Just one after the next.

582

And I realized he wasn't gonna grab any sleep on the way up there.

583

But he was fine and of course when he got up there, he had his...

584

It was his duty to meet with those soldiers and to tell his story.

585

And I think with every audience he had, had his standard speech items that he covered.

586

But I think he would kind of paint it a little differently, whether he was meeting with

kids or he was meeting with soldiers.

587

He had a kind of message for each of them and a part of his story that he would tell or

not tell, depending on who he was talking to.

588

So it was just, it was interesting to see him.

589

see him operate and see how he tackled every new conversation and every new day as if it

was new.

590

And then of course the whole Possum Lodge thing, you know, he's got his own international

club right now that he inducts everybody into.

591

He's 102 turning 12, so.

592

It is true.

593

It is true.

594

You know, you, you make a great point about, you know, his longevity and I just think, you

know, he found new life at some point along the way when somewhere in the eighties where

595

he started going back and Carl at some point pointed this out to me, which I never ever

thought about.

596

He really only had a couple of days of action like

597

He's turned a couple of days of action in the war into the rest of his life.

598

Like he trained, yes, but he went to Normandy and he played football and baseball for

about three or four weeks in Normandy.

599

They headed to the front and he had a couple of days in action and got wounded and that

was it.

600

And you know, he's really spent the rest of his time using that to inspire others and

601

You know, not only that, like even in his hometown, he realizes how important it is to

remember the lessons and remember others that have come before.

602

He's put the money that he's earned and saved and grown in, you know, uh investment funds

to uh rehab the Civil War and the World War I and World War II graves that had fallen into

603

disrepair in his own town.

604

He's built monuments.

605

He's, you know,

606

He helps other people, you know, he helped fund our film anywhere that he feels like his

money can be used to help further these kinds of stories.

607

And you're right.

608

He tailors his message to each audience and he gets excited for each day when he can meet

new people and encourage and inspire them.

609

And that gives him energy and joy.

610

And he keeps going like the Energizer Bunny.

611

There's no question about that for sure.

612

Alright Hope, give me another one.

613

Okay, so um, let's see the morning of June 6 would be my next one um So June 6 is the it

was the 81st anniversary of D-Day and the night before we were up really late and I was so

614

tired because I think we woke up at like 5 in the morning

615

to go watch the sunrise.

616

I'm so tired, I rolled out of bed on June 6th.

617

Uh-huh.

618

is when the landings happen.

619

And so we like to go to Utah Beach at 6.30 in the morning and watch the sunrise.

620

Mm-hmm.

621

So I rolled out of bed and I was like, do not want to go right now.

622

Like, I know I'll appreciate this moment later, but we drove to Utah Beach and we had to

climb this like hill thing.

623

ah And just the view that we saw on June 6th, just the sunrise and just imagining what had

happened 81 years before, what was happening on that beach 81 years before and what that

624

meant for

625

my freedom and for France's freedom and for just ah humanity at large.

626

It was just insane to just imagine all what went down 81 years ago and I was so grateful.

627

It almost brought me to tears just because it was such a momentous moment in my life that

I don't think I'll ever forget.

628

Yeah, I know those are beautiful, beautiful experiences when you contemplate what happened

and how what they did has given us not only that moment to enjoy, but um you know, so much

629

more just our whole society after that changed um for the better.

630

Yeah.

631

Yeah, I tell you for me, um you know, my second moment um

632

came at the end of our time in the Loire Valley.

633

It ended, the whole weekend ended with this incredible firework show.

634

They had put together this show that was fireworks over the, um, castle, right?

635

The are in Montour-Stuart-le-Loire.

636

And it was fireworks that were set to music that told the story of the whole

637

story of the region from before occupation to occupation to liberation to freedom.

638

And it was, you know, set to music and narration.

639

And in front of the stage, CEO and I were on the stage and in front of the stage was just

a sea of thousands of people and that were there to see him and to thank him.

640

And Helen Patton was there.

641

And Randolph Churchill was there.

642

my goodness.

643

His dancing, CEO's dancing.

644

We have to mention that.

645

Like everywhere he went, he wanted to dance.

646

Anytime he heard music, he was on the dance floor.

647

My favorite thing was when he said to me, come on Christian, let's cut in on Churchill.

648

And he took me and wanted to cut in on Randolph Churchill.

649

One time, you know, telling me wanted to dance with his wife.

650

That was hilarious.

651

Anyway, up there, we were up there with Randolph Churchill and Helen Fatten and um

652

We're just, I'm down with him next to him, listening to all of this, the music from his

era, um know, the sounds of war and just, you know, when the music comes on, watching how

653

he reacts and just how he feels and seeing the emotion in his face as, and there was this

one little girl at the bottom of the stage that wasn't watching anything, this amazing

654

fireworks show.

655

or this unbelievable crowd or Helen Patton or Randolph Churchill, nothing.

656

She stood at the bottom of the stage and she looked at him the whole time.

657

And he just kept looking down at her and he kept saying to me, she just loves me.

658

Look at her, look at her, look at her.

659

She just loves me.

660

And she had met him at the beginning of the night, early, early on.

661

And I thought,

662

How unbelievable is this?

663

She wasn't liberated.

664

Her parents weren't liberated.

665

Even her grandparents weren't liberated.

666

It was her great-grandparents.

667

And yet, that gratitude for freedom, that reverence for a liberator, had trickled down to

her.

668

And that's what she was just mesmerized by.

669

I'll never forget that.

670

Never, ever, ever forget that.

671

It was so, so powerful.

672

Um, it was meaningful for him.

673

It was meaningful for her, you know, and the other thing I'll say is, you know, I watched

how meaningful it was for the American soldiers.

674

Once we got to Normandy, when he had time talking with the other soldiers, he became one

of the soldiers and they talked with each other just as if they were in a foxhole.

675

And I really loved that too.

676

Um, so.

677

There's one other moment I'll share, which isn't a fond one.

678

Well, not a good one, not a happy one.

679

It actually was very disconcerting.

680

And this came on June 6 as well.

681

And I was with CEO underneath the tent.

682

We were at Utah Beach at the International uh Remembrance Ceremony.

683

And this is where all of the representatives of each country come, uh Canada, England,

France, and the USA, and Poland probably.

684

only a few make speeches and we weren't sure that anybody would be there for the United

States.

685

Cause oftentimes they don't send anyone, you know, on the, not the five years.

686

with this, the 81st last year, Biden was there.

687

And of course Trump wasn't going to be there this year, but we heard that Pete Hexeth

might come.

688

Well, he indeed did come.

689

And I was a little bit worried about this.

690

Um, I didn't know how this would go.

691

You know, somebody told us that he was going to see and be with the veterans.

692

That's really all that he wanted to do.

693

Um, and so anyway, the day comes and you know, he was a Fox news commentator, loves the

cameras and he gets there.

694

He makes his speech.

695

Great speech.

696

And then he and the other leaders come over.

697

to the veterans to see them.

698

I thought they were going to shake his hands or talk to them or whatever.

699

But they stand behind a barrier and they just look at them and just wave and say thank you

and then walk away.

700

And then they fly away.

701

And that was it.

702

And I felt so disappointed in my country because I felt like that is pathetic.

703

That is awful.

704

It's all, it was all for show.

705

was for the cameras.

706

It was not for the veterans.

707

And that made me very unhappy.

708

And that was, um, not a fun moment.

709

It didn't make me proud of my country and it didn't make me happy about how that was

handled.

710

And that, that was different than the way the French had treated the veterans.

711

um And so I think there was just such a stark difference.

712

Yeah, that was, um it was a uh very uh corporate feel to the overall.

713

mean, it is the big celebration where they have big um prominent people speak.

714

And so there's a lot of security and there's a lot of hassle to getting in and getting out

and trying to enjoy that whole day.

715

So it does have a less than personal.

716

feel to the whole thing perhaps.

717

were like what?

718

10 veterans underneath a tent?

719

How hard is it to let them go underneath a tent and shake their hands?

720

Not very hard.

721

All the security is right there.

722

know, they're all, the security was all around us.

723

They could take five minutes and say thank you and shake their hands and they didn't.

724

So I get it.

725

I understand what you're saying.

726

Don't disagree.

727

But I think it could have, you know, I don't know.

728

It just sat with me, not very well at all.

729

it was different than the warm stories we have of all of the other smaller celebrations

and smaller moments where this was supposed to be sort of the pinnacle of the calendar in

730

my mind.

731

And yet it felt very uh corporate.

732

screened to even get there.

733

last year at the 80th, there was a choreographed even more.

734

mean, McClellan was there and the president of the United States was there and he was in a

tent and able to meet celebrities and dignitaries.

735

you know, he was the timing wasn't right for him to meet the president, but,

736

He could have and he could have met and he did meet other people.

737

He met senators and congressmen and all these other people.

738

And so there could have been that set aside.

739

There was a tent afterwards where he met other people.

740

So it wasn't like there couldn't have been an opportunity for a different situation.

741

So um that for me, again, just it was a different situation because there was a different

administration.

742

and they handled everything differently this year.

743

In fact, this must be said, um there were many things that were set up to happen with the

army that were all canceled at the last minute.

744

And that was very unhappy for the French people and unsettling about the way that it was

done.

745

And um it threw everything into chaos.

746

And so that was another reason that everything was very difficult.

747

because everything had to be redone at the last minute.

748

So that was part of the difficulty.

749

oh anyway, but you know what was so amazing?

750

CEO never complained once.

751

Not one time, not one time.

752

I never, ever, ever heard him complain.

753

And one of the biggest problems we had was our van, our vehicle.

754

We had van troubles and vehicle troubles that were tremendous and that affected him.

755

And he never complained.

756

And you know what, you guys, there was a lot of conflict between Hunter and I, which by

the way, is completely resolved.

757

And he has of course been incredibly remorseful um and apologetic.

758

And there have been wonderful amends made, but um he's like, when I talked to him on the

phone two weeks ago and we talked about that, he's like, yeah, I had no idea about that.

759

Carl had to explain it to me.

760

He was blissfully unaware and.

761

uh

762

You know, for him, it was just a wonderful time.

763

so anyway, I just, you know, think that, you know, for you documentary filmmakers out

there, I hope that you will understand that your work can be more than just creating a

764

film.

765

can change people.

766

It can change lives, you know, not only the lives of the people watching your film, but

the lives of the people on your team, the lives of the people in your film.

767

And so

768

Don't think that, just don't minimize that.

769

Don't think that what you do is just, I don't know, it's just a job.

770

So I would say think about it as more than a job.

771

The way that I look at filmmaking is that this is an opportunity.

772

Every film I make, I think about this as a training tool or an opportunity to...

773

It's really a vehicle in order to teach other things or to learn other things.

774

Character, patience, joy, um to learn how to work together, to learn how to overcome

challenges, to learn how to make decisions, to learn how to work with and appreciate

775

people that are difficult.

776

There are so many lessons that can be learned and so many things that can be gained.

777

by going through a filmmaking experience.

778

It's one of the most challenging things that can ever happen.

779

But if you look at it um as a way of growing, um it can be one of the most rewarding

experiences that you ever go through.

780

Would you agree, Hope?

781

Thank you.

782

What about you Todd?

783

ah Yeah, a great experience for me.

784

And I think that's how I saw going into it.

785

um I joke that, you know, I'm not the cinematographer, I'm not uh the movie expert, um but

I'm able to help out where I can.

786

so that's uh my role was to be there.

787

And in being there, I had a number of wonderful experiences and the people I spent.

788

the time with there was fabulous.

789

Our whole team was interesting from top to bottom and I appreciate them just being a part

of it.

790

And so in the end, it was a lot of work and it was a lot of effort and some headaches

along the way, yet it was a vacation.

791

I tell you though, Todd's minimizing his role.

792

And you got to think about this.

793

People that em are the support people um on a film are indispensable.

794

Todd, actually, in my opinion, was the hero of the trip because he really was the stopgap

for all of the issues.

795

um He tracked all of the budget, um all of the finances.

796

He was absolutely the one that

797

was and is still helping with the transportation problems that we were having, which was a

lot of his uh challenge and responsibility while he was there.

798

uh He stayed up a lot of nights making call sheets and just tracking people and

situations, and he was indispensable.

799

And so those people on your team that are the support staff, uh man.

800

They are incredibly valuable and I don't know what we would have done without him.

801

really, really don't.

802

So thank you, Todd, for everything that you did.

803

You are indispensable to my team, I feel.

804

And yeah, I'm very thankful for you being here.

805

um And you know, as far as what's happening next with The Girl Who Wore Freedom, um I am

actually traveling to Atlanta next week because Virginie Dürr, who is the person who

806

actually saw our film in Buford, South Carolina a while back,

807

and wanted to put our film on Delta.

808

uh We then did put it on Delta and she and I together began creating uh opportunities for

uh veterans to go back to Normandy on Delta.

809

And we did three of those trips along with the Best Defense Foundation.

810

France is giving her the highest medal of honor for the things that she did to get the

veterans back to Normandy and for all of these trips.

811

So she has invited me to come be a part of that experience in Atlanta.

812

So that's happening next week.

813

And I'm very excited that our film, uh you know, was a part of her experience and has

allowed her to honor her country in that way.

814

And then uh from there, I will be going back to France to see uh Nadej and the people in

Drulinge in France and in her area.

815

They would like to show the film in some schools again.

816

So I'll be taking the film back to France and to, um into a few schools.

817

So I'm very excited for that.

818

And then I am waiting to see what's next.

819

We are about to hopefully sign contracts with Swank France to put it in more schools and

um looking to figure out how to fund um Heroes of Carinthian and

820

just expand our podcasts.

821

Those are the things that we're focused on right now.

822

And we have rehabdocumentaryfirst.com.

823

So if you haven't been there in a while, check that out and make sure you follow us on our

social media channels to see what's happening.

824

So that's what's going on at Documentary First.

825

I do appreciate you guys listening.

826

We've got some really cool filmmakers coming up.

827

I just interviewed Josh Roush

828

And he's got made an incredible documentary that I love.

829

So his podcast is coming up pretty soon.

830

um And so, yeah, everybody, thanks so much for listening to documentary first where we

believe everybody has a story to tell and you can be the one to tell it.

831

Bye everybody.

832

All right.