Army Brat
A Chapman University thesis film about family, violence, inheritance, and the contradictory American ideals of individualism and belonging.
- Role
- Director of Photography
- Date
- 2026
- Runtime
- 15 minutes
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Format
- Shot on Sony VENICE 2
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Synopsis
Set in rural 1950s California, the film follows young drifter Henry Kilroy after he is picked up by highway patrol and dropped near the home of Sal Spiegel, a disabled veteran who served with Henry’s late father. Inside the Spiegel home, Henry encounters Sal’s wife and child, both shaped by the violence of the household. As the past closes in around him, Henry is forced to confront the childhood that sent him wandering.
The film imagines the American West as lonesome, restrained, and still marked by war, even in peacetime.
ARMY BRAT premiered March 13th, 2026, at Marion Knott Studios.
On screen
Orchard roads and a lived-in farmhouse in rural 1950s California: a patrol officer and a young drifter at dusk, a kitchen table lit by practical lamps, and a couple among the orange trees.
Stills
