HEROIC Celebrates World Festival Premiere at Newport Beach Film Festival

The documentary by director Traci L. Slatton chronicles sculptor Sabin Howard’s nine-year journey to create America’s National World War I Memorial.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — HEROIC: Sabin Howard Sculpts the National WWI Memorial, the feature-length documentary directed by Traci L. Slatton, marked its world premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Saturday, October 17, bringing to the screen the extraordinary artistic and human undertaking behind America’s National World War I Memorial.

The documentary chronicles master sculptor Sabin Howard’s nine-year pursuit of A Soldier’s Journey, the monumental bronze centerpiece of the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. It follows the artistic and personal stakes of producing a work intended to preserve the memory of a generation and confront the human costs of war.

The 58.5-foot bronze relief, unveiled in September 2024, depicts 38 larger-than-life figures tracing a soldier’s experience from departure through combat and homecoming. HEROIC goes behind the finished monument to reveal the years of craftsmanship, complex production, deadlines, and sacrifice required to bring it into being.

Filmed across years of work, the documentary considers what it takes to build a national monument in the modern era—and why commemorative art matters beyond its dedication day.

After watching the documentary ahead of the premiere, Lee Roderick, who was preparing a review for The Hollywood Times, wrote: “I watched the entire film and was inspired.”

The film’s premiere comes as the United States marks its 250th anniversary year, offering a timely opportunity to consider how Americans remember military service, history, and sacrifice.

ABOUT HEROIC
HEROIC: Sabin Howard Sculpts the National WWI Memorial is a feature-length documentary written and directed by Traci L. Slatton, an internationally bestselling author and master storyteller. The film chronicles the nine-year creation of A Soldier’s Journey, the monumental bronze centerpiece of the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the largest freestanding high-relief bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere.

Unprecedented access. Unfiltered intimacy. Behind-the-scenes revelations. Extraordinary personal stakes. As director, sculpture project manager and wife of master sculptor Sabin Howard, Slatton occupied three extraordinary roles, bringing a perspective no outside director could have had. Her responsibilities often collided: what the monumental undertaking demanded was not always what made for compelling cinema. Navigating artistic ambition, institutional conflict, mounting pressure, and the personal costs of creation, Slatton reveals the extraordinary tensions behind an achievement nearly a decade in the making.

The result is an intimate, firsthand account of the ambition, conflict and sacrifice behind one of America’s most significant commemorative works.

ABOUT SUPERHUMAN FILM PRODUCTIONS
Superhuman Film Productions is the independent production company behind HEROIC. Its developing feature projects include adaptations of Traci L. Slatton’s novels The Botticelli Affair and The Love of My (Other) Life. https://superhumanfilm.productions/

Michelle Czernin von Chudenitz
EPEC Media
Michelle@EPECmedia.com
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