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Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day

Sunken Roads follows Charlotte, a young woman who joins eight D-Day veterans on a road trip to retrace their route from World War II. The veterans come to see Charlotte as a granddaughter, trusting her with their stories and confronting the trauma that still haunts them 70 years after the war. A first-person documentary reminiscent of Faces Places and Sherman’s March, Sunken Roads offers a new perspective on D-Day by presenting the memories of 90-year-old men through the eyes of a 20-year-old woman.

  • Charlotte Juergens
    Director
  • Lydia Robertson
    Producer
  • Charlotte Juergens
    Producer
  • Don McCarthy
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Arden Earll
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Hal Baumgarten
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Suzette Gandon
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Charlotte Juergens
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Mark Juergens
    Editor
  • Mark Suozzo
    Composer
  • Jordan Plotner
    Composer
  • Charlotte Juergens
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 31, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    France, United Kingdom, United States
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival
    Middlebury, VT
    United States
    August 25, 2019
    World premiere
    Official Selection
  • GI Film Festival
    San Diego, CA
    United States
    September 28, 2019
    West Coast Premiere
    Nominated for Best Feature Documentary
Distribution Information
  • First Run Features
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Charlotte Juergens

Charlotte Juergens is an independent documentary filmmaker and archival researcher, working to recover stories that have been obscured by time and memory. Sunken Roads is Charlotte’s first feature-length film. Aside from Sunken Roads, Charlotte works as an archival researcher at NBC News Archives, helping documentarians and curators unearth archival footage for their projects. Charlotte previously served as an archival researcher for the Academy Award-nominated short documentary, Joe’s Violin. She received her B.A. in History from Yale in 2016 and her M.A. in History from the University of Chicago in 2018.

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Director Statement

Through the process of test screenings, I’ve learned that Sunken Roads carries an unusual significance for many female viewers. After watching the film, numerous women have told me they were amazed to see a young woman insert herself into the male-dominated sphere of military history. These women explained that military history had never interested them before, because military narratives are almost always delivered through an ultra-masculine perspective. I have been humbled to learn that Sunken Roads represents a step forward in opening up this important aspect of our history to women’s voices.

Given the recent 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, Sunken Roads is a particularly timely film. Sunken Roads allows us to learn D-Day’s history through the voices of the men and women who experienced it, to understand its meaning as both an historic event and a personal nightmare, and to contemplate its significance 75 years later.