A Long March

Filmmakers in attendance during the Q&A and post reception. Please visit https://alongmarch.eventbrite.com to buy your tickets to this special private screening and fundraiser.

Three veterans trace their paths from war to erasure by the U.S. Government. Winding through a seldom told history of the Philippines, seized by the US as a colony in 1899, through a 40-year stretch of lethal imperialist policies, Celestino Almeda, Rudy Panaglima and Feliciana Reyes find themselves inducted into U.S. Armed forces during WWII. After their service, Congress declared them, and hundreds of thousands more, to be “not on active duty.” These veterans were denied backpay, GI benefits, and promised citizenship, and from 1946-1948 the U.S. Army further disenfranchised these veterans by reconstructing rosters of service which secretly refused to recognize the service of women. Today, Celestino, Rudy and Feliciana represent the tens of thousands of elderly veterans who remain unacknowledged despite their evidence of service. As judicial solutions hit a brick wall and all eyes turn to Congress, this documentary asks the hard questions: will America stand up for the values it claims and will these veterans get the recognition they deserve before they are all dead?

Ms. Botkin, Principal of ätɘr+flix, is a migrant from the finance industry. She has amassed an enviable list of credits including producing and directing the documentary “A Long March” (2021) and co-producing award-winning documentaries “Her Turf” (2019) and “Mary Janes: The Women of Weed” (2018). She also wrote and produced “Femto 7K” a “Best of” winner for the Denver 48 Hour Film Project 2016, which was shot in 9 locations around the world. Botkin’s first writing credit was for the short “Desolation” which garnered fiscal sponsorship by Women Make Movies and was a second-round selection at the Austin Film Festival (2016). She has since expanded the story into her first feature script, Ni Ta (2018), a quarterfinalist at Atlanta Film Festival. She is a staunch supporter of diverse voices, a founding member of Women in Film and Media Colorado, and an active member of WIF and volunteer in the film community.