Sometimes, a flight means more than merely transporting a person from one city to another.
“Why We Dream,” a feature documentary that screens today at the Tribeca Film Festival, chronicles the moving story of the Normandy Legacy Flight, a program that brings veterans of World War II to Normandy, France to commemorate D-Day, one of the bloodiest battles in human history and to pay tribute to the enormous sacrifices made on those beaches for the cause of freedom. The program is administered by the veteran-focused nonprofit Best Defense Foundation in partnership with Delta and Michelin.
For director Meredith Danluck, the experience of getting to know some of nation’s last surviving WWWII survivors was life-changing.
“It was a powerful, powerful experience making this film,” Danluck told Variety. “To spend the last few years with veterans and hearing their stories, it changed my my perspective on the value of democracy, the importance of community and service and humility — these values that have really disappeared from our cultural conversation and our culture at large.”
Meredith Danluck
Jake Burghart
“Why We Dream” was produced by Pulse Films and Delta Air Lines. Delta has facilitated the flights to Normandy since the program began in 2022, and the airline helped to finance the documentary. Danluck and Pulse’s Casey Engelhardt and Matthew Shattuck produced the film with Drake Springer of Delta’s creative studio. Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg composed the score.
“We believe in the power of storytelling to connect people across generations, across cultures and across time,” said Alicia Tillman, Delta’s chief marketing officer. “All 500,000 people that step onto our aircraft each day have a story, this is a unique space we can claim. Telling those stories builds real emotional connections with our customers, showcasing the power of their journeys that we have the ability to support.
Tillman added that Delta’s participation in the Normandy Legacy Flight program is meaningful to employees across the company.
“With 11% of our workforce made up of veterans, our commitment to those who serve runs deep – and so we’re especially proud to ensure that the stories of these WWII heroes, who changed the course of history for the better, are never forgotten and can inspire generations to come,” she said.
Danluck, whose previous credits include the 2018 drama “State Like Sleep,” came to “Why We Dream” after working with Pulse Films on other projects. The personal stories of the eight veterans — seven men and one woman — are told in a way that illuminates how the world was forever changed by war. The reflections of Second Lt. Betty L. Huffman-Rosevear, 104, who was stationed in the Pacific as part of the Army Nurse Corps, serve as a key anchor of the film.
The focus of the doc expanded after Huffman-Rosevear made an offhand comment to Danluck during an interview.
“Betty said something that really sparked for me, which was, ‘I often think about the people that I served with and I wonder what they went on to do with their lives.’ And that’s when it clicked: This was a story not just about a trip to Normandy, but really about what that experience of being in the war did for them as people, and how it shaped their lives and essentially shaped 20th century America,” Danluck said.
The 2025 Normandy Legacy Flight took off from Atlanta on June 1 and will return on June 9, after ceremonies to mark the June 6 anniversary of the start of the amphibious landing led by then General and future President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Danluck shot extensive footage at last year’s event marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Being in Normandy and surrouding areas with WWII veterans was akin to walking around with the world’s biggest rock stars, Danluck said. The film depicts scenes of local residents of all ages smothering the wheelchair-bound veterans with hugs and kisses and cries of “merci.”
The lasting impact of the Nazi occupation of France was something that touched Danluck deeply while making the film.
“As we went on we became more acutely aware that France was occupied for almost five years. For those people to feel the weight of that oppression and then the liberation — that was really profound,” she said. “It was also a revelation to be in France and see how differently the kids there understood that history and still had that level of gratitude.”
UTA is working with Pulse and Delta to shop the 90-minute film with hopes of securing a theatrical release.
“We made this film because we feel a deep sense of responsibility to these veterans and their legacy, which to us meant more than just providing them with an annual flight to Normandy. We want our storytelling to be authentic, but also unexpected, in a way that might surprise people coming from an airline,” Springer said. “These stories deserved nothing less.”
