IndependentFilm.com

NEW YORK, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Patricia Foulkrod's documentary feature "The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends," which screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and will be released later this year. Focus president James Schamus made the announcement today.

The film tells the stories of a half-dozen American heroes -- ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq -- as it charts recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq, depicted with ferocious honesty in the film, is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the soldiers returning home -- with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all -- the truth.

"The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends" stunned Sundance audiences. Hailed as "powerful" (David Ansen, newsweek.com) and "quietly unflinching" (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times), "the message of Ground Truth cannot be dismissed." (John Anderson, Variety) Ms. Foulkrod produced and directed the film, which is a Ground Truth production in association with Plum Pictures and Radioaktivefilm.

Mr. Schamus said, "Patricia has made a searing film, one with exclusive footage that will stun audiences. These soldiers are patriotic Americans articulating stories that must be heard, and we think filmgoers around the world are ready to watch and listen."

Ms. Foulkrod added, "This film has been made from the soldiers' point of view, and it captures their shattered lives and broken hearts. My intent was to give them a voice, and to inspire viewers to reach out to all soldiers and their families."

Current and upcoming Focus Features releases also include Rian Johnson's "Brick," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival); Gaby Dellal's "On a Clear Day," starring Peter Mullan and Brenda Blethyn; Peter Cattaneo's family film "Opal Dream"; the untitled film directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Tim Robbins and Derek Luke; Allen Coulter's "Hollywoodland," starring Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, and Ben Affleck; and Shane Acker's animated fantasy epic "9," produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and Jim Lemley & Dana Ginsburg.

Focus Features (www.focusfeatures.com) is a motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company committed to bringing moviegoers the most original stories from the world's most innovative filmmakers.

Focus Features and Rogue Pictures are part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric and 20%-owned by Vivendi Universal.

Source: Focus Features

Web site: http://www.focusfeatures.com/