Poster Girl, Oscar nominated film on female veteran with PTSD

Oscar-nominated film to premiere at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater

Posted on October 10, 2011 | Middlebury
By John Flowers

MIDDLEBURY — Sara Nesson was a student at the University of Vermont during the late 1990s when she developed an interest in the stories of Iraq War veterans living in Burlington.

That experience led her to Robynn Murray, a teenager from upstate New York who joined the U.S. Army in 2003 as an enthusiastic recruit and returned from a tour in Iraq at age 20 fighting a personal war against the ravages of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Nesson spent two years chronicling Murray’s emotional and physical struggles following her return, struggles that include depression, nightmares, guilt associated with PTSD, battles with the Veterans Affairs (VA) for benefits, and attempts to navigate a civilian world that hardly recognizes her. Nesson turned Murray’s story into a 2011 Oscar-nominated short-subject documentary titled “Poster Girl,” which will be aired on HBO on Nov. 9.

“Poster Girl” will get a special premier on Friday, Oct. 14, at Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater.

The event is being sponsored by the Gailer School, a grade 7-12 independent school in Middlebury that is partnering with the Vermont Veterans’ Place — a nonprofit, temporary housing organization in Northfield — to bring young people and veterans together to help create community bonds between students and veterans in transition.
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