Stress

Four post-9/11 veterans are home in Pittsburgh attempting to settle into a new normal with active duty behind them. Stress takes us to the working-class neighborhoods of the Steel City to document the lives of these brave men and women who saw a lifetime’s worth of combat fighting for our country in Afghanistan. With their backs to the camera or shown discreetly going about their day, each vet shares their commentary of what motivated them to join the service, the grueling experiences of war, and their longing to find a new purpose and identity as civilians. War has changed them forever. Yet perhaps the harder battlefield is back here at home, where they struggle to relate to loved ones, manage symptoms of PTSD, and assimilate to an otherwise safe environment that still keeps them in a dangerous state of high alert. Profoundly honest and conflicted, Stress targets public perceptions of servicemen and women, an astounding veteran suicide rate, and the resilience of our vets in their fight to find peace. (Cleveland International Film Festival)