Skip to Main Content

Peace Symposium Program Keynote Event to Feature Film & Discussion

AcclaimedThis Is Not a War Story Starts at 7 P.M. Followed by Dialogue Led by Director Talia Lugacy

The Westheimer Peace Symposium continues this week with its keynote program, a screening of the film, This Is Not a War Story, followed by a discussion featuring its director, Talia Lugacy, on Wednesday (Sept. 20), at 7 p.m. in the Murphy Theatre in downtown Wilmington.

Wilmington College's 33rd annual Symposium is focusing on “Peace and the Nature of War,” through the topic of “Combat Trauma and Healing,” during four programs in September.

This is Not a War Story tracks a ragtag group of combat veterans in New York whose anti-war art, poetry and papermaking keep them together, despite the specter of their friend’s suicide and the ever-crystalizing fact that healing from war is sometimes an impossible mission.

Lugacy is a filmmaker, actor, and writer based in New York. She co-wrote and directed the feature film, Descent, starring Rosario Dawson, which premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically by Warner Independent. Descent was championed by The New York Times as a Critic's Pick calling the film "...essential to see, a vividness never seen in an American film.”

Her second feature film, This is Not a War Story, was an NYFA Grant Recipient for 2020 and was shortlisted for Director’s Fortnight at Cannes before the COVID-19 year’s event was canceled. The film has since won the Audience Award at SF Indie and was a Spotlight title at Cinequest with universal praise from publications such as Film Threat, Hammer to Nail, and Screentology.

Lugacy is a full-time assistant professor of screen studies at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School, in NYC. She was a member of the Actors Studio Playwrights & Directors Unit and began studying filmmaking at NYU Tisch at the age of 15. She has directed numerous short films, as well as environmental PSAs with Frack Action, Water Defense, Mark Ruffalo and Food & Water Watch.

The film will run from 7 to 9 p.m. followed by dialogue with the director from 9 to 10 p.m. The program is free of charge, but audience members are requested to pre-register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/703554138367?aff=oddtdtcreator.

The year's Symposium poses the questions: How can veterans heal from violent and traumatic experiences carried out in a time of war? How do soldiers experience the transition from the military environment to civilian life after experiencing traumatic events in war? What is the responsibility of the state and society to help veterans reintegrate and resume emotionally healthy and stable lives? Knowing the costs to soldiers and veterans, what is the state's and society's responsibility to prevent violent conflict?