June 24, 2010 -
PRLog -- Award winning film maker, Steven C Barber hit a grand slam with his very first attempt at film-making. It wasn't Spielberg and Hanks' The Pacific, nor Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winning Hurt Locker, but Barber's independent documentary film "Return to Tarawa: The Leon Cooper Story" (which was boot-strapped by the last ancient warrior and star of the film) that sent a ripple effect through Congress and caused it to pass legislation so that now JPAC will be leading its team back to the Pacific battlefield this August in a CSI-style recovery mission through the largest forensic anthropology lab in the world, while Barber films. Barber's independent film company Vanilla Fire Productions is scouting for another A-list celebrity to have the privilege of narrating, and follow in the footsteps of the nobility that Ed Harris brought to the first film.
WWII Vet Leon Cooper of Malibu (who also serves as executive producer) endearingly calls his director "Steven Carberundum Barber" for his cannonball won't-take-"no"-
for-an-answer style. (Carberundum is the hardest metal on earth, which actually began as a failed experiment! It occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, an abrasive, high endurance crystal used in bulletproof vests and in high-temperature/
high-voltage electronics.)
The Barber-Cooper team was on CNN American Morning after a tour of the Walter Reed Army Medical Facility where he received the Commander's Coin in front of 300 disabled vets after an exclusive premiere of his second film UnbeatenTheMovie.com. Barber and Cooper were also on CNN Larry King Live with Ed Harris:
http://www.youtube.com/stevencbarberThe working title is "Tarawa: The Un-Recovered."
In 2008, Mr. Barber and a film crew went out to the Atoll of Tarawa in the island nation of Kirabati. Accompanying him was 88-year-old Leon Cooper who was a 22-year-old Higgins Boat Commander in the 1943 Battle of Tarawa where 1,113 Marines were killed in a 3 day battle of epic proportions. While on the island, Mr, Barber had heard rumors of forgotten and lost Marines that were never repatriated after almost 7 decades. These rumors could not be substantiated, but upon returning to the states and striking an immediate film deal with Discovery's/
Military Channel, Mr Barber and Mr. Cooper would receive hundreds of emails from families from around the United States seemingly corroborating the rumors that were first discovered while filming including Congressional Medal Of Honor Winner Alexander Bonnyman who is still buried on Tarawa:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddb56tbv_2672rqdp7fp WWW.RETURNTOTARAWA.COM in the last two years has become one of Discovery/Military Channels highest rated and most watched documentaries and has received unprecedented press from CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC (www.StevenCBarber.blogspot.com)
and a dozen other world wide news organizations. Because of the power of the film, Department of Defense and Energy Legislation was introduced to Congress in 2009 through Congressman Lipinsky's office out of Illinois, where a former Marine Alderman saw the movie and called and demanded something be done. The Legislation was adopted and oversight was given in 2010! Mr. Barber has been invited back personally and exclusively confirmed to film the documentary that will tell the JPAC story of these amazing men and women who spend 7 days a week on missions all over the world uncovering, identifying and repatriating our fallen men of the armed services. Mr. Barber made at trip to Honolulu in early June of 2010 and began shooting on location from JPAC Head Quarters on Hickam Air Force Base. Mr. Barber will be return to Hawaii to complete the interviews needed for the documentary and then a 30 day embedment with 30 plus members of JPAC as they begin excavations on Tarawa. Mr. Barber has received positive feedback from the Discovery network and is very confident that the sequel will find a home very quickly upon finishing in post production. The possibility of fining Marines from the battle is very high, and this is a true testament of the Power of one WWII veteran's mission and the carberundum style filmmaking of award-winning documentarian Steven C. Barber.
Barber and Co-Producer Tamara Henry, MA are still actively fund raising and accepting sponsors/brand integrations for the film, and donations for executive producer credits are welcome through Leon Coopers non profit, providing both tax write off and credit on the film. The budget for pre-production and shooting is $42,000. Please contact Steven C. Barber at stevencbarber@
gmail.com and also at WWW.RETRUNTOTARAWA.COM
