WILLIAMSBURG — A pair of William & Mary alums will be screening a film project, “McVeigh,” as part of the Ampersand International Arts Festival.
The film, by Joe Pirro, Class of 2008, and Milan Chakraborty, Class of 2000, is focused on Timothy McVeigh and the horrors of the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Viewers will be taken back to 1995 and meet Timothy McVeigh during the planning stages of the Oklahoma City Bombing and what ultimately led to the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. History.
McVeigh is portrayed by Alfie Allen, who stars in the film alongside Brett Gelman, Ashley Benson, Anthony Carrigan, and Tracy Letts.
Pirro and Chakraborty will be at the Ampersand International Arts Festival to screen the film at the Kimball Theater on March 21, and following will participate in a Q&A session with the audience.
Chakraborty, who was involved in the 2017 film “My Friend Dahmer,” originally did not want to be part of the project.
“I said no to this several times because I had already made the movie about Dahmer. I had said to myself, ‘If I’ve made a movie about Dahmer and then I make a movie about McVeigh, who am I?’ These are awful people that I don’t like. When I met Joe, he had the answer to the question of why were we making a movie about McVeigh that made me rethink my constant noes to the project,” Chakraborty explained.
Pirro, who really wanted Chakraborty as part of the project, told him that he felt this film would address the ways of the world today.
“We were looking back at a lot of the media coverage about Timothy McVeigh when he carried out the attack on Oklahoma City in the mid-’90s and it was really surprising to us to see that a lot of the coverage was really kind of framed in a shocking, how could this happen here, he looks like the kid next door, how could this be, this must be a one-off thing,” Pirro said.
“But, McVeigh had world views that were bigoted and misogynistic and he despised the federal government because he fervently believed conspiracy theories and he was led to these theories by people who were looking at him as an empty vessel which they could fill kind of radicalized ideas,” he continued. “Rather than being this kind of one-off lone wolf that would never happen again, Timothy McVeigh was actually (a) flashing neon warning sign of what was going to become a lot more vocal and a lot more visible in our society.”
This year is the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing and both Chakraborty and Pirro hope that those who attend the screening never forget the victims of that fateful April day and also learn the warning signs of how attacks like the Oklahoma City Bombing can be prevented.
“It’s very important to me that we’re not glorifying these people and unnecessarily humanizing these people. How did we get here? I hope that by shedding light on how these people become these empty vessels helps us become more aware of this so that we can try to prevent another attack from happening in the future,” Chakraborty said. “Let’s remember these victims of Oklahoma City and other victims of other awful attacks. This isn’t a history that is that long ago and we can’t forget that there’s still missing seats at tables and lives that were torn apart and are still torn apart by the actions of these people.”
The same day as the screening in Williamsburg, the film will debut in select theaters and will be available to buy or rent on Apple TV and Amazon Video.
Pirro and Chakraborty’s event is part of the free programming at the annual festival. For tickets to feature programming, visit ampersandfestival.com.