Ross to host premiere of McCoy's war correspondent documentary

Title card for "Running Towards the Fire: A War Correspondent's Story," with World War II soldiers parachuting into combat and a portrait of Robert Reuben.

Courtesy

The documentary “Running Towards the Fire: A War Correspondent’s Story,” directed and produced by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Barney McCoy, will premiere at 7 p.m. May 1 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are available online.

The film captures the pivotal roles war correspondents played during the Allied forces’ 1944 D-Day invasion of Europe and subsequent defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in 1945. The war correspondents were unsung heroes who risked their lives informing the world with firsthand accounts of the bravery and sacrifice of American and Allied forces.

The documentary draws extensively from the previously unpublished memoirs of Robert Reuben. The Omaha-born war correspondent parachuted into Normandy, France, hours before the D-Day invasion and was the first journalist on the ground. Reuben chronicled the Allies’ liberation of France and Belgium and fierce fighting in Germany that forced the Nazis’ May 7, 1945, surrender.

“Running Towards the Fire” also pays tribute to the courage and resilience of the men and women who fought tyranny in World War II. Through newspaper articles, radio broadcasts and film reports, war correspondents such as Reuben boosted the morale of soldiers and civilians by highlighting the sacrifices they made in the pursuit of freedom.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring McCoy, Gilbert and Martha Hitchcock Professor of Journalism; videographer Kristian Anderson; and project consultants Christine Lesiak, an award-winning filmmaker, and Mitch Yockelson, author, military historian and senior archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration.

The film also will air at 8 p.m. May 23 and 28 on Nebraska Public Media.

“Running Towards the Fire” was produced with support from UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Humanities Nebraska, The Donald and Lorena Meier Foundation, Nebraska Public Media and Painted Rock Productions.

For more information, click here or contact event coordinator Zac Franzen at zfranzen@unl.edu or 402-472-3053.