Documentary Shows PTSD Decades of Grief and Healing

Film about veterans' trauma to make Maine debut 
The Forecaseter
By Colin Ellis
September 30, 2015

Searching For Home

PORTLAND — The University of Southern Maine will host the state premiere of a documentary detailing soldiers’ wartime trauma and their struggles to transition home.

The documentary, titled “Searching for Home: Coming Back from War,” will premiere Oct. 3 at the university’s Hannaford Hall, located in the Abromson Community Education Center on 88 Bedford St. An invitation-only reception will be held at 6:30 p.m.; the film will be screened at 7:30 p.m. and a question and answer session with the filmmakers will follow.

Eric Christensen, the director of the 106-minute documentary, said he has made documentaries about individual trauma in the past, which eventually led him to the topic of wartime trauma. The documentary, portions of which were filmed in Maine, features veterans who survived injuries in war and their attempts to transition to life back home, as well as their family members.

The documentary looks at veterans suffering grief and trauma and spans multiple decades, from World War II to modern day conflicts.

Christensen, who lives in Burbank, California, said he hopes the message people take from the film is that recovering from trauma is a process.

“I want people to take away hope from the film and relate it their own traumas,” Christensen said.

He said military trauma is an acute example of trauma, and it is a good analogy that people who are suffering from their own trauma can relate to.
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"Home is not home anymore" - Searching for Home: Coming Back from War - W/ Anthony Edwards from Eric Christiansen on Vimeo.

Built on the pillars of the truth, the healing and the hope, SEARCHING FOR HOME: COMING BACK FROM WAR is an emotional and unflinching look at returning veterans and their search for the“home” they left behind, physically, mentally and spiritually.