South Florida filmmaker's 'All Wars End' and 9-11 fundraiser

South Florida filmmaker's 'All Wars End' and 9-11 fundraiser honor Iraq soldiers with PTSD
By Ben Crandell
September 11, 2012

South Florida filmmaker Carlos Londono knew that authenticity was critical to the effectiveness of “All Wars End,” his attempt to shine a light into the darkness that is war-related, post-traumatic stress disorder and to honor a childhood friend killed in Iraq.

He did his research, interviewing soldiers and hanging out in online chat rooms where he says combat veterans discussed their demons with amazing candidness. He read books, including Sebastian Junger’s “War” and “House to House” by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia. And he found a construction site on Miami Beach’s Normandy Drive that allowed him to create a realistic stand-in for the Iraq city of Fallujah.

He also enlisted the husband of one of his actresses, a Marine who had done two tours in Iraq, to act as a consultant on the movie. The husband collaborated with vets from his old unit to gather items that would give the look of the film an added legitimacy, from a sniper rifle to uniforms.

The uniforms came with a surprise.

“Inside the pockets was sand. It was not the color of sand here. It was sand from Iraq,” Londono says. “This movie was meant to be.”

“All Wars End” is a short film at 22 minutes and shot in Broward and Miami Dade counties over the course of five days by Londono, a Cooper City High School grad who studied political science and social psychology at Florida Atlantic University before giving in to his creative impulses by taking a screenwriting course.

The story is set in motion with a scene of a U.S. Marine sniper, Matt (Michael Joseph, far right), who is wounded and pinned down behind a concrete barricade with his friend and spotter Eric (Rico Reid, right) as they face off with an insurgent sniper. Unknown to Eric: The war has taken such an emotional toll on Matt that he has decided to let himself bleed to death from an earlier wound, hoping to provide insurance money to the wife and son he has been avoiding with repeated re-enlistments.
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