A D-Day Sailor, a WWII Museum and a Road Trip

What does it take to bring a D-Day documentary home to Normandy?

In early 2022, The Girl Who Wore Freedom was headed back to Normandy for screenings around the D-Day anniversary, and director Christian Taylor was on the road across the American South with Normandy guides Thomas Voisin and Flavie Poisson. This solo update follows that road trip, from her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and on to Nashville.

In Episode 155 of Documentary First, Christian gives a quick update on her own while everyone else is away. At the National WWII Museum, a full day of meetings turns into an idea for a Girl Who Wore Freedom tour of the places in the film. She talks about the less glamorous side of running a film business, from taxes and a new bookkeeper to finishing a dual-language DCP, and lays out the June 2022 screening schedule in Carentan and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.

She also shares a conversation with Donnie Edwards of the Best Defense Foundation, the former NFL linebacker who takes World War II veterans back to Normandy, plans to film a sizzle reel for the Carentan project, a coming DVD run, and a New York City screening with the Alliance Française. Near the end, Flo Plana records the story of a D-Day sailor who spent two months off Omaha Beach, and Christian explains how the DocuView Deja View segment got its name before sharing a Bob Ross documentary.

WATCH THE FILM: The Girl Who Wore Freedom is on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube and Fandango at Home in the US, and streaming worldwide in English and French.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How a visit to the National WWII Museum led to the idea of a Girl Who Wore Freedom tour
• Why running a documentary means running a business, taxes included
• Why the new dual-language DCP had to be tested in Normandy before the screenings
• How a D-Day anniversary screening schedule comes together in Carentan
• How the Best Defense Foundation raises money to take World War II veterans back
• What goes into planning a sizzle reel: reenactments, sit-down and walking interviews
• The plan to make DVDs and sell them at events
• How the DocuView Deja View segment got its name

CHAPTERS

0:00 Laurel, New Orleans and the WWII Museum

3:52 Taxes, a DCP and June Screenings

6:03 Donnie Edwards and a Carentan Sizzle Reel

8:16 Gulf Shores, Nashville and New York

11:15 A D-Day Sailor and DocuView Deja View

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is there a tour of the places in The Girl Who Wore Freedom?

In this February 2022 episode, Christian Taylor says the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, which runs World War II tours in Normandy and across Europe, talked with her about partnering on a Girl Who Wore Freedom tour focused on the places in the documentary. She says viewers had been asking to visit those places, and the idea was still being explored at the time.

What does the Best Defense Foundation do?

Christian Taylor talks with Donnie Edwards of the Best Defense Foundation, a former NFL linebacker who played for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chargers. She says he raises money to take World War II veterans back, had taken about 60 veterans to Pearl Harbor that December, and would probably take 30 or 40 more to Normandy. He wanted to help more people see The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

Why is the segment called DocuView Deja View?

Christian Taylor explains that the documentary picks segment was first named Deja Vu DocuView, a title she calls terrible. When she listened back to the jingle Jeff and Jason Hoban made for it, it said DocuView Deja Vu instead, so she said the segment needed renaming to match and asked listeners what they thought. Today the segment is spelled DocuView Deja View.

DOCUVIEW DEJA VIEW PICKS

Christian's pick: Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed (2021), directed by Joshua Rofé for Netflix.

Need a doc for date night? Browse every guest pick on our DocuView Deja View page.

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ABOUT THE FILM

The Girl Who Wore Freedom tells the story of D-Day and the liberation of Normandy through the eyes of the French civilians who lived it. Directed by Christian Taylor, it has won more than 25 international awards.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• The National WWII Museum, New Orleans
• Best Defense Foundation
• Support the show: https://documentaryfirst.com/pages/support