About the Production

Brothers After War is a testament to the enduring bonds of camaraderie forged in the crucible of combat, and the resilience of the human spirit. Filmed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, this extraordinary documentary captures the lives of 15 veterans from three continents, showcasing their journeys from the battlefield to their civilian lives. Shot during real-world missions, with unprecedented support from the U.S. military and the Tunisian government, the film offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the lives of those who have served; exploring themes of sacrifice, healing, and hope amidst unprecedented global challenges.

The production was an ambitious undertaking, traversing borders and breaking barriers despite the restrictions of a global pandemic. The filmmakers collaborated closely with military officials and local governments to embed the narrative within authentic military operations, ensuring an unparalleled level of realism and integrity. From the training grounds of North Carolina to the rolling hills of Tuscany and finally landing in the ancient deserts of North Africa, the film captures breathtaking landscapes juxtaposed with the stark realities of military life. The veterans’ stories, told through their own voices, reveal the profound struggles of reintegration and the enduring sense of brotherhood that sustains them, even in the most isolating times.

At the heart of Brothers After War  is a celebration of humanity’s resilience and the unbreakable bonds of trust and loyalty formed in combat. Inspired by the veterans’ courage, the production team (including Emmy-winning composer Lee Holridge, Emmy-nominated editor Scott Powell, and Oscar-nominated editor Michael Schweitzer) embarked on a journey that required not only technical precision, but deep emotional engagement. The documentary does more than tell a story; it immerses audiences in the veterans' lived experiences, allowing us to walk in their boots. This cinematic journey shines a light on the shared struggles and triumphs of veterans worldwide, a powerful reminder that even in the face of war’s devastation, the strength of the human spirit endures.

Director’s Statement

I started Brothers After War broken.

My international custody battle to raise my two children in America left me empty, exhausted, and lost.  Gary told me, “Sometimes the best way to heal a broken heart is to help someone else.”  I threw myself into this mission and “Brothers After War” is the result.  Having life stripped to its essence – redefined my purpose. 

In Iraq, I saw incredible bravery and utter sadness.  I filmed Soldiers and Marines running towards gunfire, sneaking into hide sites late at night.  Witnessed fear you could taste.  What war can do to the soul of a veteran.  I have seen the toughest men I know, break down and cry when remembering a wounded comrade or one who did not make it.  Or in response to their one-year-old girl not knowing who they are.  What surprised me was how much love and care they had for one another.  How a Marine in the Sunni Triangle would get a packet of M&M’s from home and share with everyone else. 

As I set off to reconnect, the adventure across four continents quickened my pulse.  Jumping out of airplanes, going under the sea, filming live fires, walking amongst the graves of our fallen brought life into richer colors. 

In Brothers After War, when a Marine revisited a moment with a wounded Iraqi comrade that I filmed, he broke down in tears.  A Soldier had just lost a friend to suicide and others confessed to coming close themselves.  In reliving these moments, the veterans broke through to new insights and I witnessed healing in real time. 

Ironically, this return to when my life last made sense, restored me.  I learned that coming home is the hardest part of being a warrior.  This film has already saved a Veteran’s life.  The best part of my generation volunteered to serve us.  Come walk with us.

Theatrical Release

On Friday, February 28, 2025, Brothers After War will premiere on over 100 screens across America, bringing its powerful message to communities with the strongest ties to our nation’s veterans and active-duty military. Regal Cinemas, the second-largest theater chain in the U.S., has pledged its support, aligning with their mission to uplift veterans through partnerships with the Gary Sinise Foundation. These screenings are carefully chosen to focus on areas with significant military populations, ensuring the film reaches the people it represents most—those with firsthand connections to military service. This (heart-stirring story) aims to spark a national dialogue about the challenges veterans face and the resilience they embody.

Brothers After War is more than a film; it’s a bridge between civilians and the military community. By shedding light on the unique experiences of veterans, it invites audiences to deepen their understanding and reconnect with their military friends and family. With the backing of the Regal Foundation, the film sets out to inspire action, foster communication, and strengthen bonds within communities. This is a chance to honor our heroes, while taking meaningful steps to support them.

Impact

Brothers After War – More Than a Film 

Brothers After War is a movement. A continuation of an ancient tradition of both honoring and healing warriors upon their return. From Homer’s The Odyssey, chronicling Odysseus’ harrowing journey home from The Trojan War, to the modern-day sagas of American Sniper and Black Hawk Down, tales of sacrifice by warriors and their families have long been a medium for understanding and healing.  Brothers After War stands as a continuation of this tradition, bringing the timeless power of storytelling to the challenges faced by today’s veterans and their families.

Executive Producer Gary Sinise aptly reminds us, “While we can never do enough for our defenders and their loved ones, we can always do a little more.” Brothers After War embodies this ethos, celebrating the courage of American soldiers and the resilience of the families who support them.  The initiative pairs the documentary with a  Seminar, transforming it into more than just a viewing experience.  Using journaling and group discussion, it becomes a valuable tool for identification, connection, healing, and reintegration. Participants watch the film together as a community.  This serves as an emotional icebreaker, opening the door for them to safely explore their own deeply personal struggles of returning home from the trauma of war.  As in Homer’s epic, we are all reminded that the journey home can be more challenging than the battles themselves.

Brothers After War also educates our civilian population, ensuring that the stories of our modern-day warriors are heard, understood, and honored by all. Through its partnership with the Gary Sinise Foundation, this initiative seeks to create a national movement of helping to improve, heal, and save the lives of our nation’s heroes .

Bios

Jake Rademacher - Director & Producer

Jake Rademacher is the Founder and President of Metanoia Films and Perseverance Productions.  Between 2005-2007, Jake risked everything, including his life, to tell the story of his brothers serving in Iraq.  While filming this award-winning feature film, Brothers at War, Jake embedded with multiple units, filmed numerous combat engagements, and interviewed more than forty combat veterans in the warzone.  After receiving standing ovations in movie theaters across America, the film premiered on Showtime on Memorial Day, before being released around the world.

To help Service Members and their Families heal and improve communication within their families, Jake created a series of Brothers at War Resiliency Workshops.  These workshops have been conducted for more than 40,000 Service Members and their Families since 2011.  In 2024, he created a new Brothers After War Seminar for veterans and their families, and now leads a team of Veteran Resiliency Trainers to conduct 25-30 events a year.

With Gary Sinise returning as his Executive Producer, Jake directed and produced Brothers After War, winner of Best Documentary Audience Choice Award at the San Diego International Film Festival.  Jake has also written, directed, and produced numerous commercials, and short films. 

Jake received a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.  The Caucus of Producers, Writers, and Directors awarded him the Distinguished Service Award.  He is an honorary Colonel in the Oklahoma National Guard.  He is a Canon Chasing the Light Filmmaker and member of the Directors Guild of America.  A SAGAFTRA member, he has performed in numerous theatrical productions, films, and narrated hundreds of documentary series, and commercials.  He graduated cum laude with a degree in English from the University of Notre Dame and studied playwriting and drama at Trinity College Dublin.  He lives in Los Angeles, where he is a dedicated father to his two children, Josie and Noel.

Norman Powell - Producer

Norman S. Powell directed and produced hundreds of hours of network television.  He produced the second season of 24, the pilot for The Unit, and directed and executive produced the feature length documentary, American Valor, an intimate look at the American heroes who have received the Medal of Honor. With Jake Rademacher he produced Brothers At War, and Brothers After War until his death in 2021.

Norman was nominated for three Emmys and a Producers Guild of America Award. As an Executive Producer, he won multiple Telly awards for his documentaries, a People’s Choice Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, & Directors.  As Senior Vice President at CBS he ran the in-house production division and supervised the development and production of eighty movies of the week and eleven series.

Norman was a graduate of Cornell University, a long-time member of the DGA and served as Chairman of the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors from 2012 to 2015. 

Gary Sinise - Executive Producer

For over 40 years, Gary Sinise has advocated on behalf of America’s Service Members. He began telling their story in 1984, when he directed Tracers at the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, IL. A company he founded. His support for local Vietnam Veterans’ groups grew after his portrayal of Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump. He formed an enduring connection with Service Members throughout the military community, and began working on behalf of the Disabled American Veterans organization, a relationship that continues today. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, his dedication to our nation’s active-duty defenders, veterans, first responders, and their families has become a tireless crusade of support, service, and gratitude for all those who protect our freedom and serve our nation.

In November of 2008, after a day of shooting CSI New York, Gary sat with Jake Rademacher and Norman Powell in a screening room at CBS to watch Brothers At War. Afterwards he sat quietly for many moments. Finally, he said, “Jake, it’s a very important film.” Gary became Executive Producer and the film’s champion. He traveled with Jake to military towns during its opening week, spoke about it on national television, and helped raise over $250,000 for veteran causes with the film.

In 2010, Gary saw the Brothers At War Companion Journal and said, “Let’s get it out there!” He organized a five base military tour which took place in 2011. The Workshop was so well received that it has now been conducted for more than 40,000 Service Members and their Families. In 2019, the Gary Sinise Foundation became the sole sponsor of the Brothers At War Workshops.

In 2016, Jake expressed a deep desire to revisit and reconnect with his friends from Iraq. Out of that conversation grew the idea for a sequel. The Gary Sinise Foundation funded the creation of Brothers After War. Production began in 2019, with Gary once again serving as Executive Producer. His four decades of incredible award-winning storytelling – including an Oscar Nomination, multiple Emmys, and Tonys – proved invaluable, both in his mentorship of Jake, and his contribution to the final film.

Gary’s passion extended to the creation of the new Brothers After War Seminar. The seminar is the latest addition to the portfolio of programs offered by the Gary Sinise Foundation to support our Defenders and their Families.

In recognition for his humanitarian work, Gary Sinise has received numerous awards including: the Presidential Citizens Medal, Spirit of the USO Award, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Spirit of Hope Award by the Department of Defense, and Sylvanus Thayer Award from the West Point Association of Graduates.

Phil Gurin - Executive Producer

Award-winning Producer and Writer Phil Gurin has been creating, acquiring, selling and producing entertainment programs all over the world.  Gurin's shows have aired on every major U.S. broadcast network, many cable networks, and in over 185 countries around the world. Gurin has won four PrimeTime Emmy Awards as an Executive Producer on ABC's Shark Tank, and an international Rose d'Or (Golden Rose) for the comedy game show Oh Sit! which he co-created for The CW. The Singing Bee (NBC/CMT) is one of the Top 30 most produced original formats in the world.

Establishing his own company in 1997, he went on to produce CBS' Candid Camera in primetime for four years, which was followed by an extensive run of shows on NBC, including Twenty-One, Weakest Link, The Singing Bee, Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA. He has produced dozens of other specials and series, including When Cameras Cross The Line, World's Most Incredible Animal Rescues, On Thin Ice: The Dark Side of Skating, All-Time Funniest Christmas Moments (FOX), Queen for a Day (Lifetime), Dancing Fools (ABC Family), Avenging Evil (Nat Geo), Holocaust: The Revenge Plot (Channel 4/UK) and Sing It Back: Lyric Champion (ITV/UK).

He developed and produced the prestigious Hall of Fame for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Along with Reggie Hudlin, Gurin is Executive Producer of the NAACP Image Awards and Image Awards Live Red Carpet shows for TV One. Gurin serves on the Executive Board of Directors for NATPE (National Association of Television and Programming Executives) where he developed the NATPE REALITY annual conference and market; is Co-Chairman of the international non-profit organization FRAPA (Format Recognition and Protection Association) and serves for the Television Academy on the Executive Committee of the Producers' Peer Group.

Brothers After War Cast

in order of appearance

Jake Rademacher, Director - Los Angeles, CA

Our eyes and ears, and the reason we’re here.  From his first embed in Iraq in 2005, Jake risks life and limb as a fish-out-of-water to better understand his brothers’ fight in the War on Terror.  His latest quest has him traveling four continents during the height of the COVID pandemic to reconnect with his brothers and the friends he made in Iraq 15 years earlier.

LTC Isaac Rademacher, Charlottesville, VA

The West Point graduate and recipient of 4 Bronzer Stars moves up through the ranks to Battalion Commander and Lt. Colonel during war time.  Jake joins Isaac on his 7th and final deployment.  He offers a tremendous perspective on leadership,  personal cost of service to his family, and at the end in the coliseum is at the crossroads.

MSGT Joseph Rademacher - Raleigh, North Carolina

From baby faced Sniper to Special Operator, we watch this mercurial, outspoken Soldier go from a “gung ho” 19 year-old, to a seasoned warrior with 9 deployments, 5 children, and much to share.

SGT. Jason Grundy (Ret.) - Fredericksburg, VA

Jason combat jumped with 75th Ranger Battalion into Afghanistan days after 9/11.  He takes us through being hit with an IED, losing friends in battle, going back to school and marrying his teacher, and shares about his current role training future elite warriors with weapons to aid in their survival.

Jennifer Hermanson - Las Vegas, NV

Through humor and heart, this former intel specialist turned child occupational therapist brings us our uniquely female perspective on life as a Soldier in war—and veteran after war.  She shows us myriad ways of coping, and of finding great value through helping her “kids”.

MSGT Frank McCann - Saratoga Springs, NY

This Sniper turned Super Dad is an enigma.  When we meet Frank, he’ll stop at nothing to protect his fellow soldiers by eliminating “bad guys”.  When we find him 15 years later, he’s doing the most noble job a man can do by caring for his young daughter who suffers from a grave disease which threatens her life every day.

SPC Quentin Corrigan - Peoria, IL

The real-life nephew of Jake, Isaac, and Joe.  Quentin serves in the U.S. Army.  He is the only son of Thad Rademacher, the brother who suffered an untimely death at the age of 20.  Quentin takes us on a touching journey of growing up without a father, but also of looking to his uncles as inspiration to serve.

SSG Ernest Ward (Ret.) - Columbia, SC

A giant man with a giant heart.  Big Ern shows us what  love and loyalty between  brothers-in-arms looks like.  He brings us on a painful but touching ride into suicide through the eyes of a comrade. His big, beautiful voice, his warmth and sincerity, and his true desire to help others will remind you that angels really do walk among us.

SPC Chris MacKay (Ret.) - Evanston, IN

Chris MacKay will melt your heart with his story.  A broken kid from a broken home who finds a brotherhood in the Army only to have no-one show up at his homecoming.  His life after service takes him to the edge of suicide, but he finds redemption in scuba diving and in trying to carry his message to fellow soldiers who find themselves lost and hopeless.  You can’t help but fall in love with Chris MacKay.

MSGT Derreck K. Sfachios Fischer (Ret.) - Norfolk, VA/Fayetteville, NC

At times sarcastic, this paratrooper turned sky-diving instructor literally takes Jake out the side of an airplane in modern day.  From his clean cut days to looking like a Viking, this patriot reminds us about the true meaning of Memorial Day as he recounts the loss of his best friend, SFC Sam Hairston, who we met in Brothers At War.

CWO5 David “Gunner” Keniston (Ret.) - Salem, NH

David deployed 13 times to the war zone—to the front lines each and every time.  This tough Marine breaks down as he and Jake revisit a moment where he showed incredible compassion to an Iraqi soldier he led in battle. He also takes us through a harrowing injury, but back home, he shows a tender side with his undying love for the woman who’s stood by him through it all.

CWO4 Kevin Turner (Ret.) - Denver, CO

A Chief Intel Officer with 7 deployments with elite units.  At times angry, Kevin gives us the POV of a seasoned leader, who is frank and honest about the policies that finally led him to say, “I’m done with Iraq,” after abandoning locals whom he had served alongside.

Ben Fischer - East Hampton, NY

Tall, charming, and successful, Ben is a prime example of learning to appreciate life after war.  In his witty and engaging style, this married father of two tells us how he used his G.I. Bill to make the most of the next chapter by getting an MBA and forming a partnership building homes in the exclusive Hamptons, NY.

Partners & Production

SDG RELEASING (Distributor) At SDG, we've been making movies for 30 years, experiencing tremendous highs and lows. The wonder of bringing our vision to life and the joy of watching an audience moved to tears or shouts of excitement are amazing.

PERSEVERANCE PRODUCTIONS (Production Company) is an Los Angeles based company producing creatively ambitious documentaries that reflect its passion for bringing extraordinary stories to the screen with uncompromising craft and execution.

GARY SINISE FOUNDATION (Sponsor) - The Gary Sinise Foundation serves and honors our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need. They do this by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities. The Gary Sinise Foundation has been sponsoring the Brothers At War Workshops since 2019.  They have made it possible for tens of thousands of Service Members, Veterans, and their Families to see the film, receive a free journal, and experience our interactive workshops at no cost to the participants or the military. They also sponsored BROTHERS AFTER WAR, and the creation of the new BROTHERS AFTER WAR Seminars.  The Gary Sinise Foundation is unwavering in its support to bring this story to other veterans, and inspire them to open up and tell their stories.