Alumna advocates for veterans in WWII documentary

Documentary film producer Holly Stadtler (’83) has put her Broadcast Journalism degree to work, building a fulfilling career that continues to feed her curiosity decades later. Her latest project, The Green Box: At the Heart of War, airs this month ahead of Veterans Day.

Narrated by actor Martin Sheen, Stadtler’s film was inspired by the 2015 book The Green Box, an intimate story of World War II pilot Robert Kurtz, as told by his son, Jim Kurtz.

To bring the narrative to life, Stadtler’s production team traveled to the Austrian Alps, where Kurtz’s B-24 crashed, to interview witnesses of the air battle. They traveled to Sagan, Poland, the site of the infamous prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III, where the Great Escape occurred and where Kurtz was held captive. In addition, Stadtler combed the archives and libraries to find relevant WWII footage and still pictures to produce reenactments, animations, and first-person accounts.

As a filmmaker and storyteller, Holly Stadtler (’83), right, paid careful attention to protect the legacy of the Kurtz family, pictured in 1952.

The documentary recreates moments from Kurtz’s life, introduces people whose stories were woven with his, and reveals the courage and commitment that marked the life of a hero, a beloved husband and a father — an “ordinary” guy in extraordinary circumstances. The war was not just “fought” on battlefields; Stadtler highlights the endurance and stress present in times of conflict through his wife, Peggy’s, experience, as revealed through the letters she left behind.

If there’s one takeaway from the film, Statdler and her team hope viewers will support and advocate for not only veterans, but their families as well. “This film reveals the many ways in which a family was deeply and irrevocably impacted by WWII — even decades after the fighting ended,” she explained. “It illustrates how no one involved in any war, directly or indirectly, comes away uninjured: not the combatants, their families, their children or their communities.” 

She also shares another valuable insight from The Green Box film — appreciating heritage. “Many of us have a box in the attic that holds our history, and today it’s so easy to record interviews with our loved ones, rummage through those attics and preserve our family’s history.”

Stadtler, owner and president of Dream Catcher Films Entertainment Inc., says her time at Madison “set her on a path of great adventure” and gave her the skills and confidence to put herself out there, jumpstarting her career.

“I loved my JMU experience ... My Greek life on campus brought lifelong friendships I continue to hold dear,” she added.

A longtime Virginia resident, her post-graduation journey took her to the Oval Office for former President Ronald Reagan’s farewell address while she worked for NBC News and to the Serengeti, where her first film was shot and where she worked closely with Jane Goodall’s then-husband, Hugo van Lawick. Stadtler walked the Everglades with Ed Begley Jr. in a conservation film for TBS, filmed a Kodiak bear mother nursing her cubs for Animal Planet, and interviewed a Voodoo priest about zombies for the Discovery Channel — not to mention climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as photographer and writer of an indie film.

Years later, her travels and connections shaped her understanding of nature, both human and wildlife, allowing her to bring impactful stories to millions via broadcast. “It’s been a wild and joyous ride,” Stadtler said.

Mysterious clues in a forbidden green box launch Jim Kurtz’s discovery of a father he never knew.

Whether the subject is endangered manatees or a person diagnosed with a personality disorder, Stadtler says protecting the story remains a throughline in all of her films. With The Green Box project, preserving the legacy of Robert Kurtz’s family was paramount, especially given the trauma they had suffered by losing a husband and father.

In adapting the book into a feature film, Stadtler came across a scarce amount of footage from Robert’s life with Peggy. “With too few images or video, we felt challenged to balance the film with more than one family’s story so the film would be relevant to many viewers,” she said. “It was also a challenge to blend the historical story with Jim’s present-day search to come to know his dad, but after six years of working with the material … I think we succeeded in shaping the material effectively to appeal to a broad audience and protect the Kurtz family legacy.”

The Green Box: At the Heart of War airs on VPM World on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. and on public-television stations across the U.S. in honor of Veterans Day.