Barney McCoy and the The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications present a free premiere screening of the documentary RUNNING TOWARDS THE FIRE – A WAR CORRESPONDENT’S STORY followed by a panel discusison on Wednesday, May 1 beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Panel discussion guests: Director/producer Barney McCoy (Gilbert and Martha Hitchcock professor of journalism at UNL), assistant professor of practice and documentary videographer Kristian Anderson, award-winning filmmaker and project consultant Christine Lesiak, and project consultant, author, military historian and senior archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration Mitch Yockelson.

RUNNING TOWARDS THE FIRE vividly captures the pivotal roles war correspondents played during the Allies 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 the American and Allied forces who fought the Nazis.

The documentary draws extensively from the previously unpublished memoirs of Robert Reuben.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 Nazi’s 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 WWII. Through newspaper articles, radio broadcasts and film reports, war correspondents like Reuben boosted the morale of soldiers and civilians by highlighting the sacrifices they made in the pursuit of freedom.

RUNNING TOWARDS THE FIRE is a collaborative effort produced by McCoy, with support from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Humanities Nebraska, The Donald and Lorena Meier Foundation, Nebraska Public Media and Painted Rock Productions.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a rental event presented by an outside organization. The views and opinions expressed in rental programming are those of the presenting organization and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, its staff, or the University of Nebraska.