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Film by East High grad explores courage at Black = Maria Film=20 Fest

Posted by arts_reviews

Posted: March 30, 2007 - 4:17 pm

Former East High graduate Joe Acton did time = in law=20 school and the Anchorage Police Department before starting his own = publishing=20 business, but his latest creative endeavor put him in the director's = chair for a=20 film about gay veterans who relive traumatic combat experiences while at = a=20 military hospital.

Acton says "Courage Doesn't Ask" is about = honor, duty=20 and service, not gays in the military ala "Brokeback Army," though the = 12-minute=20 film certainly questions the integrity of the U.S. military's = "Don=E2=80=99t Ask, Don't=20 Tell" policy. The film will show all weekend during the Black Maria Film = Festival at Out North.

Acton grew up, went to school, met his wife = and had a=20 daughter in Anchorage, but now lives in Bellevue, Washington. "Courage" = has down=20 well in the Lower 48, he said, "but you always want to do well when you = go=20 home."

You can see this hometown boy's directorial = debut along=20 with other independent films three times daily through Sunday, April 1. = For the=20 complete schedule or to buy tickets ($8 online, $9 at the door), go to=20 www.outnorth.org.

Find out more about "Courage" = www.zaydoefilms.com or=20 www.blackmariafilmfestival.org.

--Dawnell Smith

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