Wings: Veterans appreciation screening & reception

Romance and war prove equally tough battlefields in the first ever Academy Award for Best Picture winner starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen.

The Norman Studios Silent Film Museum, University of North Florida Military and Veterans Resource Center and Standfast Asset Management will screen the 1927 silent film, Wings at the UNF Student Union Theater on Sunday, November 12. This veterans appreciation event begins with a reception at 1pm and the film begins at 2pm.

Considered the premiere military aviation film for its realism, Wings tells the story of Jack Powell and David Armstrong, small-town friends-turned-rivals, each vying for the attentions of pretty Sylvia Lewis – That is, until both men enlist to become combat pilots in the Air Service and head off to serve in World War I. If the two survive war, will their friendship survive their love for the same woman? Through a tragic turn of events, the two learn the power of forgiveness – and finally notice the pretty girl next door.

Wings was the first film and the only silent to win the Academy Award for Best Picture at the inaugural Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences award ceremony in 1929. It also won the Academy Award for Best Engineering Effects, thanks to the incredible work of special effects artist Roy Pomeroy. Acclaimed for its military realism, Wings was shot at San Antonio’s Kelly Field and involved some 300 pilots and planes of the United States Army Air Corps. Among the most famous scenes is one depicting the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, shot over ten days with some 3500 infantrymen.

Tickets are $10 for general audiences; $5 for veterans and active military with ID; and $5 for members of the Norman Studios, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Jacksonville’s only remaining silent film studio, among the nation’s first to produce films starring all African American casts. Regular-price tickets can be purchased at the door (cash or credit) and online. Discounted tickets for veterans, active military and Norman Studios members can be purchased at the door.

Wings is generously sponsored by Ponte Vedra Beach’s Standfast Asset Management, offering management of investment portfolios and personalized and customized investment portfolios that invest in dividend-paying stocks and bonds for more than 30 years; and by the University of North Florida’s Military and Veterans Resource Center.