Locals to Score a Documentary About "The Forgotten War"

Scott Kesterson Over on his Web site, local photographer Hal Samples just posted the trailer for a forthcoming documentary titled At War, directed and shot entirely by a former soldier-turned-photojournalist, Scott Kesterson, who spent a year embedded with troops in Afghanistan and now lives in Dallas, at least while editing...

By Robert Wilonsky

September 13, 2007

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Scott Kesterson

Over on his Web site, local photographer Hal Samples just posted the trailer for a forthcoming documentary titled At War, directed and shot entirely by a former soldier-turned-photojournalist, Scott Kesterson, who spent a year embedded with troops in Afghanistan and now lives in Dallas, at least while editing the movie. The film was produced by David Leeson, who, in 2004, won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for these photos taken for The Dallas Morning News.

Leeson was "my mentor," as Hal puts it, and asked Samples for some advice on how to score the documentary about "the forgotten war" in Afghanistan. Hal's response: How about some Black Angels and Sarah Jaffe? (The Black Angels, from Austin, score the trailer currently online; Jaffe's music will be featured in the second version.) Samples says there will be other local artists added to the soundtrack in coming days; Kesterson says there will be a rough cut of the movie ready by fall and a version ready for theaters come January. Till then, check out the trailer. --Robert Wilonsky

Update: Here's the trailer.

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