First-time screenwriter Kate Connor’s film Fort McCoy is as ambitious as it is personal: together with co-director Michael Worth, Connor magnificently retells her grandmother’s childhood experiences as the daughter of a barber on a post-World War II military base in Wisconsin which includes a German POW camp. In the summer of 1944, Frank Stirn (Eric Stoltz) moves with his family to become a barber for the American Army at Fort McCoy. Embittered that he cannot fight, Frank must make a stand when a Nazi SS Officer threatens his family. Frank’s daughter Gertie befriends a young German prisoner during this exceptional summer, but the Stirns soon discover that war still finds its victims even thousands of miles from the battlefields. A coming of age story beset with tragedy, a love story between a Jewish soldier and a Catholic girl, and the journey of one man struggling to find his worth in a war that does not want him, Fort McCoy is a tender and heartfelt tale.
Kate Connor Filmography: First Feature
Michael Worth Filmography: Killing Cupid (05), God’s Ears (08)
Filmmakers Kate Connor & Andy Hirsch in attendance
