When Jeremy Zerechak, Class of 2006, was called into service with the Army National Guard as part of the secretive Iraq Survey Group (ISG) to search for weapons of mass destruction, he was able to get beyond the safe and often misleading depictions of the media and reveal a no-holds-barred perspective.

"It's amazing what you can get away with," he said.

Land of Confusion is the first documentary of its kind about the war in Iraq because it is the only film to have been conceived, shot and directed by a veteran, Zerechak said.

"It was able to stay my vision throughout the whole process and because of that it has an intimacy to its story, to its message that you simply won't find in any other documentary about the Iraq War," he added.

Zerechak said he joined the National Guard so college would be affordable. After three semesters studying film and video at Penn State, he was called to serve in Iraq.

While filming the documentary in 2004, Zerechak said it was relatively easy to film and there was not restricted access. In fact, he said he was questioned only once during his time abroad.

The Army was more concerned with its mission and combating the insurgency than dealing with a video camera, he said.

"It was completely unauthorized what I was doing," Zerechak said. "The people who knew weren't in a place to really care or understand the scope of what it was going to be."

Despite the fact even Stars and Stripes reporters were not granted access to the ISG group, he was.

"I cleared it with my company command and they probably thought that it was going to be some cutesy film to show the Army when we got home," he said.

As Zerechak and the rest of his team systematically secured sites thought to hold WMDs for experts to assess, they also routinely found nothing. Those that were found were remnants from the Gulf War that were unserviceable.

"We wanted to believe that the mission was definitely purposeful in respect to finding what we were told was there. We kind of clung to that for a little bit but then that started to erode after about six months," he said. "It was not a drop in morale but more of an epiphany. We were still combat effective."

After his service, Zerechak was honorably discharged. He said he decided to take a break in between filming and creating his documentary to decompress from what he had experienced and to prevent any bias from permeating the film.

He described the film as unfettered, even-keeled, honest and unflinching.

Kristy Cyone, marketing director for the State Theatre, 130. W College Ave., said viewers can detect a sense of who Zerechak is throughout the film.

"He seems like a very level-headed, down to earth type of person, which will make for an interesting perspective in the film," she said.

Also, unlike other documentaries, the fast pace of this film prevents it from getting dull, Zerechak said.

The music for the film was composed by Joseph Miller, who was in the process of getting his master's degree in music from Duquesne University.

This music adds a lot of interest to the film, he added.

Zerechak met Miller at a sound equipment store where Miller worked at the time. Miller, who was working on his master's at the time, showed interest in Zerechak's project and wanted to help.

Returning to State College for the showing of his film, things have come full circle for Zerechak. His documentary starts with the scene of a protest at Old Main, he said.

Land of Confusion has already won several film festival awards, including the Special Jury Awards at the Florida International Film Festival and the Atlanta Film Festival, but Zerechak maintains more people getting exposure to the film is what is most important.

While he will be competing with Lewis Black for viewers, Zerechak said he is optimistic about the turnout.

Cyone said there was much interest in the film before it was even confirmed.

"I had people before we had even confirmed wanting to know when tickets would go on sale," she said.