PHOENIX - Writing a film was key in helping Iraqi Freedom Veteran Travis Hamilton deal with the rigors of war. Now it appears as if the writing could pay off when the film "Turquoise Rose" opens this week in Tempe at Harkins Valley Art Theater at 2:30, 4:40, 6:50 and 9 p.m. Friday September 7 through Thursday September 13.
While serving with the Arizona National Guard's 356th Signal Company in southern Iraq in 2003, Hamilton continued a script, he started writing at Fort Bliss, Texas, while he was waiting for his orders. Writing meant focusing on his future – and distraction from the situation around him. His call to duty meant leaving Scottsdale Community College where he was studying filmmaking
"While serving my country I learned what it truly means to be free," he says. "I also learned what it's like leaving your wife, five months pregnant with your first child, while you get deployed to war... seeing your son when he's eight days old, seeing him for two weeks, and then not seeing him again until he's walking. That is something I only thought happened to my grandfather's generation back in WWII. Writing gave me some sanity in the midst of everything I was going through."
The writing brought him back to a different time in his life, when he was a missionary on the Navajo Reservation. It was then when Hamilton saw a repetitive story -- young people returning to the reservation, often giving up their lives, to care for elderly family members. Hamilton says that those young Navajos had an opportunity to learn things they might not have otherwise learned, similar to his experiences while serving in the Army.
While writing the movie, Hamilton received input from two others in his Army Company a Navajo woman from Chinle named Rose Brown and Marjorie Coltrin a former school teacher who assisted with the writing. After Hamilton left the service two other people played significant roles in developing the film. They include Julius Tulley, the Navajo Land Producer and fellow Army National Guardsman who Hamilton met on two separate occasions while in the combat zone. The other is friend Jake Johnson who assisted with the final polish on the script.
Filming for the movie, "Turquoise Rose," took place mostly on the Navajo reservation. It is the story of a young Native American woman who leaves her glamorized life to go back to the reservation to help her ailing grandmother.
Hamilton realizes that this dream and his ability to stay focused while in the service made a difference in his life. He was able to return to Phoenix in a great frame of mind. He started his own production company; he received care from the Carl T. Hayden VA Health Care Clinic in Mesa, and he helps other troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I had always heard about the VA services for returning troops," he says. "Now I see the great support and focus on combat veterans. I'm hopeful my story can inspire others. For me I found it was important to stay mentally focused on my goals, when being called to duty. Turquoise Rose is the fruit of those efforts."
To arrange an interview with Hamilton, contact Paula Pedene, Public Affairs Officer, at the Carl. T. Hayden VA Medical Center, at 602-200-6279.
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