A new documentary film about the unusual group of early aviators who set the nation on a path to becoming a military air power as World War I was dawning is appearing at film festivals from coast to coast, and has received a top honor in its film genre.
The Millionaires' Unit, a film by Ron King and Darroch Greer based on a book by Marc Wortman, traces the group of Yale students and their wealthy families before World War I, and documents the group’s wartime experiences, and their efforts to persuade the government of the need to develop a stronger military aviation program. On March 22, the documentary received the Emanuel "Manny" Berlingo Award for Best Feature Length Documentary at the thirteenth annual Garden State Film Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the filmmakers announced in a news release.
Wortman introduced the film at the New Jersey showing, and King participated in a question-and-answer session after the screening. King and his wife Liz accepted the award from festival founder Diane Raver.
The Millionaires’ Unit was scheduled to be shown in California during the Newport Beach Film Festival on April 30 at Island Cinema 7, following a screening that took place on April 26 in Santa Ana during its West Coast premiere.
The film, first shown publicly last year at EAA AirVenture, was screened three times in Iowa during the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, and next will move on to a May 2 showing in Iowa City at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, where Greer will speak before the screening. Both the talk and the screening are open to the public with museum admission.
The documentary will screen in Virginia on the afternoon of May 24 as part of the GI Film Festival at the Angelica at Mosaic in Fairfax. Greer and King are expected to attend.
