Sedona, AZ: Critics and audiences around the world have raved about “The Messenger” which made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. It has garnered numerous top honors in prestigious festivals around the globe, including a Best Screenplay and Peace Film Award at the renowned Berlin Film Festival.
Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson star in this compelling, powerful new drama which premieres in Sedona on Tuesday, November 10. There will be two screenings of the film at 4 and 7 p.m. at Harkins Sedona Six Theatres. The film is being presented by the Sedona International Film Festival in this one-night-only special engagement as part of its popular Second Tuesday Cinema Series.
Lt. Col. Paul Sinor, military liaison to film and television, will be here to host Q&A discussions and Sedona audiences will see the film the same week it opens theatrically In New York and Los Angeles.
Filmmaker Magazine calls the film “moving and enormously powerful with riveting performances.” The stellar ensemble cast, led by Foster and Harrelson, also includes Samantha Morton and Jena Malone.
“We are so proud to be presenting this film on the eve of Veteran’s Day in honor of all the brave men and women who have served and are serving in our armed forces,” said Patrick Schweiss, film festival director. “And it is an honor for us to get the film here in Sedona the same week it is opening in New York and Los Angeles.”
Ben Foster (right) stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. He is partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson, left) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers.
In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front.
When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.
