More from the CINES

At the cocktail reception on the 7th floor terrace of the Newseum, we ended up sharing a table with a very interesting gentleman named Tom Hope. He had a white ribbon on his badge, indicting he was a Jury Chair. He was with his niece, Karin, and a lovely lady whose daughter is the executive director of CINE.

Tom, it turns out, was a photographer with an elite unit during WWII. He recently helped compile a book about that unit, and he had a copy for us to look at. Included was a first person narrative submitted by the soldier in the hospital that Patton famously slapped. The rest of that story is that Patton returned a while later. He had found out that this Canadian soldier, who was serving in a unit with American soldiers, had been wounded in a key operation. Patton pinned one of his own Purple Hearts on the soldier. And after Patton left the building, someone came and took the Purple Heart away -- because the soldier was Canadian!

We enjoyed hearing Tom's stories, and were very surprised when, during the Awards Ceremony, he was identified as one of the founders of CINE 50 years ago. Here's a link to a fascinating interview with Tom about how the US Government wanted someone to found an organization to encourage quality documentary films that could be entered in foreign film festivals, which at the time were being flooded with well-produced propoganda films from Communist countries. It's a fascinating story, and made the award even more special for Craig.