'Doughboy' Offers Family-Friendly Tribute to War Veterans

West Va. filmmaker Kristin Seibert sees an under-serviced niche in the film marketplace, and she’s eager to fill it.

“We’re looking to make 100 percent family-friendly films hearkening back to the old times … good, values-based films,” Seibert tells Big Hollywood.

So when she read the script for “Doughboy” she jumped at the chance to bring it to the screen.

Seibert is the executive producer behind the film, which will screen Sunday at the fifth annual G.I. Film Festival. “Doughboy” features a self-centered teen caught vandalizing a WWI statue. Sentenced to community service, the boy ends up helping out at a local veteran’s home where he meets old soldiers who impact his view of the world. The story marries memories of 9/11 with the timeless tales of men who risked everything for the country they love.

She used Facebook to find local talent to round out the cast, but finding the actor to play the sullen teen stood as the film’s big challenge. Barrett Carnahan previous film experience has been extra work on the film “Super 8,” but his audition for “Doughboy” effectively ended the project’s search.

“A lot of kids have been in theater, but it’s a completely different type of acting, over the top,” she says. “Barrett came in and just nailed it. He had a huge amount of talent. He heard about it through a janitor at his high school … he blew us away.”

Seibert, who just wrapped production on her second film “Random Acts of Christmas,” says she hopes the G.I. Film Festival will be part of a wider festival strategy meant to earn a theatrical release for “Doughboy.”

For now, she’s glad to let the story reach the public in as many ways as possible. The film’s message deserves to be heard, she says.

“Let’s really think about and appreciate your veterans and what they’ve done for us,” she says. “Your typical teens don’t necessarily think about those things … we wanted to make a film where parents and grandparents could take their kids to see it, and especially veterans, and open up a dialogue.”