ABOUT THE PROJECT

LOGLINE
Patriotic young men and women volunteer to defend their country, experience catastrophic injuries, and come home to face emotional and physical barriers to intimacy.

SYNOPSIS
LOVE AFTER WAR is a story about grievously injured veterans who have won the battle for love. All the categories of serious combat-related injuries are represented among the couples. In addition there is racial, ethnic and gender diversity. Four members of the cast have visual disabilities; one has multiple limb loss, one has a spinal cord injury, one has burns over 80% of his body including his face, and one is blind and deaf. Other cast members have combinations of PTSD, TBI, hearing loss, and multiple orthopedic injuries that are invisible but described by each.

The couples are interviewed in their homes. We see still photos before and after injury, still photos from deployments, and combat video.

The challenges that injured veterans and their intimate partners face when coming home from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are grounded in recent history using key scenes from the movie Born on the Fourth of July, the story of Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became an anti-war activist. Although LOVE AFTER WAR does not take a political stance, an emergent theme across the board is the lack of support from the VA in the area of sexual health and intimacy and several characters stress the importance of addressing these most fundamental issues for the injured veterans and their partners.

Experts in human sexuality and veterans with disabilities, including healthcare professionals from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the VA will expand on and/or clarify content as needed. A senior official from the VA will comment on what the future plans are for them to address sexual healthcare from a holistic perspective. The film concludes with the optimistic hope that the VA will address the sexual health needs of our wounded veterans.

PROJECT TYPE Documentary Feature

DIRECTOR Mark Schoen
PRODUCER Mitchell Tepper, Mark Schoen

WEBSITE LoveAfterWar.org