Real to Reel: World War II in Film, Documentaries & Newsreels

New panelist added!

Rick Atkinson has signed on to participate in the conference. Atkinson had a notable twenty-year career in journalism and an investigative reporter and assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for national reporting, public service and history. Among his bestselling books are An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943, the first volume of The Liberation Trilogy, a narrative history of the U.S. Army in North Africa, Italy and Western Europe during World War II. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Atkinson was an embedded journalist with the 101sr Airborne Division, an experience he recounted in his first-person account, In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat. Currently he is working on subsequent volumes of The Liberation Trilogy. He resides in Washington, D.C.

Atkinson was a featured panelist at the First International Conference on WWII and is a member of the Museum’s Presidential Counselors group, an advisory board. 

Real to Reel: World War II in Film, Documentaries & Newsreels

Films, documentaries and newsreels all played a pivotal role in how information and memories of World War II were recorded over the years. The Museum’s Second International Conference on World War II, held April 10 - 12, 2008 in New Orleans, examines the key role motion pictures have played and continue to play in shaping America's understanding of World War II. All sessions will be held at the Marriott Convention Center Boulevard, just a few blocks away from the Museum.

Presenters and panelists include renowned historians Donald L. Miller, Gerhard L. Weinberg, Antony Beevor and Hugh Ambrose, who is currently working on The Pacific, HBO's sequel to its Emmy-winning miniseries Band of Brothers. USMC combat photographer, SSgt. Norman “Norm” Hatch will appear with never before seen footage of live combat film of the Battle of Tarawa. Carlo D’Este, Author of Patton: A Genius for War; James McBride; author of Miracle at St. Anna, now being made into a film by Spike Lee; Benjamin Patton, grandson of General George S. Patton; James Moll, Emmy and Oscar winning Director and Producer of Price for Peace; Frank John Hughes and Michael Cudlitz, actors from the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and screenwriter John Orloff are all scheduled to appear.

The ribbon cutting reception for the accompanying special exhibition and the closing Band of Brothers banquet will be held at the Museum. Program updates and Conference tickets can be purchased online at http://warmovies.nationalww2museum.org or call 877-813-3329 x 257 for additional information.