Premiering on PBS SoCal Plus September 3 at 8PM PT
Encore presentations 9/4/25 12AM and 11PM PT
FORTUNATE SONS
An American journey through friendship, life, loss, and renewal.
They entered the 7th grade of an all-male, military school for the sons of Los Angeles elite in the cultural watershed year of 1968 - their lives, friendships, and personal challenges provide a remarkable lens through which to explore 60 years of culture, masculinity, and seismic social change.
Are you a husband, father, brother, son? Or, do you have one?
Fortunate Sons is essential viewing - resonating with the developing national conversation about mental health, masculinity, and the power of connection and vulnerability.
The Story
In 1968 – while The Beatles rocked a generation, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy shocked the nation – seventy-two 12 year-old boys entered 7th grade at the elite, all-male, military Harvard School in Los Angeles - the young men of the baby boom generation being groomed to lead American society.
These are the real-life stories of American men who grew up together and now, as they prepare to celebrate their 50th high school reunion, lean into the truths of their journeys with humor and vulnerability.
Fortunate Sons explores the challenges that all Americans have confronted as the world around them changed more rapidly and in more ways than anyone expected.
Love and loss.
Harmony and dysfunction.
Challenges and successes.
Pain and healing.
Watch the Trailer
How To See It
Broadcast premiere.
Fortunate Sons will air on PBS SoCal on September 3, 2025 at 8PM PT, with encore presentations on September 4, 2025 at 12AM PT and 11PM PT. It will continue to roll out on other PBS stations around the country, over the next several months.
Non-theatrical distribution - Impact Campaign.
In partnership with ROCO Films and schools, nonprofits and community groups nationwide, we're launching an impact campaign featuring screenings and facilitated discussions around themes illuminated by the film, including mental health, masculinity and the power of connection. Organizations interested in learning more or hosting a screening, click here.
Festival premiere.
Fortunate Sons had its festival premiere in the Dances With Films: LA festival on June 21, 2025 in Hollywood.
Video on demand.
Sometime in early 2026, Fortunate Sons will become available on your favorite pay video-on-demand platform.
We'll post additional news and updates on this site, as they happen.
Project History
Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentarian Peter Jones and producer John Manulis, together with filmmaker classmates David Rosemont and Scott Shepherd, launched this project after our high school class began connecting on Zoom in the early, lonely days of the pandemic.
Additional classmates stepped up to support the project with early "angel" funding for production, archival research, and editing. Producer Taylor Vracin-Harrell and acclaimed film professionals, editor David Jakubovic, and composer Earl Rose, committed themselves to the project.
After almost 5 years of class Zooms, dozens of individual interviews, deep dives into archival and historical material, a year and a half of editing and post-production, and with the support of a remarkable village of investors and contributors, we completed the movie.
Reactions
It's been particularly gratifying to see how Fortunate Sons resonates across generations and demographics - it's really universal stuff: emotional, dramatic, funny, inspiring, and thought-provoking.
You can see a more extensive list of reactions on the Testimonials page.
STEVE ONEY
Author, "On Air"
Brilliant....wonderful and profound. Every minute of the film is engaging. I was delighted, moved, and crying by the end.
DR. JENNIFER AAKER
Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business
This made me think about life in a different way. Profound, utterly mesmerizing and transformative.
SUSAN REED
Magazine editor and journalist
An extraordinary, fascinating, and moving film. I loved it, from beginning to end.
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Join our email list and tell your family and friends about Fortunate Sons -- support our impact campaign for mental health and the power of connection and vulnerability.
Together, we can make a difference
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