ABC war correspondent premiered movie in Ponca City

A father and son traveled across seas with a camera and spent two and a half years on enemy grounds shadowing American troops. Last night Mike Boettcher, ABC correspondent and his son Carlos, an ABC producer premiered the documentary, Hornets Nest here in Ponca City,where Mike grew up.

“I came to this theater when I was a kid," Mike said. "The first movie I ever saw was in this theater and had been here hundreds of times. I love this theater and to see that it’s still preserved means so much. That’s why I wanted to bring the film back to premiere in my hometown, for my hometown and because this theater means a lot to me.”

Before this excursion Carlos didn’t have a journalism background, he went to see why his Dad put his career before his family. A new bond was set during this time and Carlos now works in the news industry.

The movie also showed the bonds between soldiers using raw footage Carlos and Mike shoot. Mike said this film won’t only make you want to thank our soldiers, but hug them.

“I felt that the war has dragged on in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and we stopped telling the stories of our men and women in uniforms who were fighting over there and I thought that was wrong," Mike said. "I decided, with my son to do this project where we would go out and tell the stories of those men and women in uniforms who are fighting for us. So, that the 99 percent of Americans who are not connected to the war, who do not feel the pain of wars we fight connect to the less than one percent who do.”

The soldiers featured in the film are Marines stationed in south Afghanistan and Army in north and east Afghanistan. Some of the men from the three troops Carlos and Mike were embedded in were at the premiere, along with many other veterans.

The movie will now start spreading across the nation. Starting tomorrow in Oklahoma and Dallas theaters. They will add 50 more cities the following weekend, and then Memorial day weekend theaters from Honolulu to Washington D.C. will have it.

All the proceeds from last nights sell out crowd at the Poncan Theater will benefit the Veteran’s Memorial park going in downtown.