A Discovery Times 10 Part Documentary Series

From Arkansas to Baghdad, Off to War is the human saga behind one of the biggest news story of our time. The 10 part documentary series represents the first time in television history that a single unit of soldiers and their families have been followed from the beginning to the end of a deployment at war.

In October 2003, the brother filmmaking team Brent and Craig Renaud, natives of Arkansas, began filming the deployment of 3,000 part-time soldiers from the 39th Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard as they left their civilian jobs and their families to fight in Iraq. With the regular military branches stretched thin, this would be a troop movement of historical importance, the largest deployment of the National Guard to a combat zone since the Korean War.

Sergeant Ronald Jackson is a turkey farmer, Sergeant Joe Betts is a minister and Sergeant David Short is a police officer. “ These are not guys who ever planned to go to war,” said Craig Renaud, “these are people with regular jobs just like you and me, who joined the National Guard to help fight floods in their backyard, not fight insurgents halfway around the world.” Right away the filmmakers knew there were two important untold stories here, and Off to War focuses equally on these part-time soldiers being sent off to battle, and also on the families who were left behind with little notice or preparation to tend the farms on their own, to raise children, and to endure the daily bad news about Iraq coming from their television sets.

From scenes of full-scale combat, to a soldier’s funeral; from the birth of a first child to the heartbreaking return home of a critically injured soldier; Off to War is
the new millennium's real Band of Brothers.

Awards and Festivals

Winner: IDA Award for Best Limited Series, 2006

WINNER: The Overseas Press Club of America Carl Spievogel Award 2006

Nominated for Best Direction in Documentary,
Directors Guild of America 2005

WINNER: Best Television Documentary,
San Francisco International Film Festival 2005

WINNER: Grand Prize, Tokyo Video Festival 2005

WINNER: Silver Plaque in National News Series, Chicago International Televison Awards 2005

WINNER: Silver Plaque in Special Achievement,
Chicago International Televison Awards 2005

WINNER: The Stanford Certificate of Merit,
United Nations Film Festival 2005

WINNER: Bronze Remi Award, Houston Int'l Film Festival 2005

WINNER: 1st Place Best Documentary, Big Muddy Film Festival 2005

Honorary Mention Best Documentary, Oakland Film Festival 2004

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Tribeca Film Festival 2005

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Silverdocs Festival 2005

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2005

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Hamptons Film Festival 2005

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Tokyo Video Festival 2006




Credits

Producer, Director, Camera: Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud

Editors: Brent Renaud, Craig Renaud, John Custodio, Eddie Stein, Mami Kuwano, and Rubin Polizzi

Executive Producer: Jon Alpert

For Discovery Times: Executive Producer Diana Sperrazza, Executive in Charge of Production Vivian Schiller
Press

Anchorage Daily News:
Guard's Deployment an Emotional Journey
February 10, 2005
View article


Entertainment Weekly:
Season Premier
October 14, 2005
View article

  
New York Times:
Grunt's Eye View from Basic to
Baghdad to Home
November 20, 2005
View article  

Jack Meyer's Media Village:
Discovery Times Channel's Off to War Returns
October 13, 2005
View web page link

Opendemocracy.net:
"To Iraq and Back" by
Robert W. Snyer
October 24, 2005
View web page link

Pittsburg Post Chronicle:
'Off to War' Offers Unblinking Look at Iraq
October 9, 2005
View article
Los Angeles Times:
Documentaries Make War a Bitter Reality
Oct 14, 2005
View article

Financial Times:
Best in the Year of Provacateurs
December 19, 2004
View article
San Francisco Chronicle:
Two Documentaries and Two Wars
that Still Divide Nation
October 15, 2005
View article

New York Times:
Arkansas Travelers, Guard Units
Life in Iraq
October 21, 2004
View article
The Kansas City Star:
Off to War’ puts you in the trenches
with reservists and their families
October 15, 2005
View web page link