Why We Dream
Feature Documentary
2026
- Director
- Meredith Danluck
- Network
- HBO & CNN Films
- Premiere
- Tribeca Festival 2025
- Commissioned by
- Delta Air Lines
- Production Company
- Pulse Films
- Role
- Producer
When a group of centenarian WWII veterans make a pilgrimage to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, we witness how these landscapes, scarred by war and frozen in time, unlock memories of the lives lost and lived thereafter. Why We Dream explores the trauma, humanity, and life-affirming moments these men and women found at war, and how those experiences shaped not only the people they became but the building of postwar America. Weaving rare wartime archival footage, 16mm home movies, cinematic portraiture, and classic film excerpts, the film tells an emotional, subjective history of the twentieth century in the voices of those who lived it.
Featuring
Arlester Brown, Sam Carlile, Gideon Kantor, Wally King, Papa Jake Larson, George Mullins, Andy Negra, Betty Huffman-Rosevear
Story by Meredith Danluck & Casey Engelhardt
Produced by Meredith Danluck, Casey Engelhardt, Matthew Shattuck, Drake Springer
Cinematography by Jake Burghart
Edited by Brian Gersten & Ronnie Silva
Music by Hans Zimmer & Christian Lundberg